Bitcoin reached a two-year high on Tuesday, inching its way to an all-time record high.
The original crypto currency rallied for the second day on Tuesday, surpassing $57,000 for the first time since 2021. On Tuesday morning, its price had slightly dropped to $56,704.
Since the start of the year, bitcoin has risen 28% as result of renewed interest in the digital currency after the U.S. approved the first bitcoin spot ETFs. A technical event called halving, which restrains the mining of new bitcoins, is approaching in April and has also contributed to rising demand.
Bitcoin is a little over $10,000 away from the all-time high it hit in November 2021, of over $68,000.
Why is bitcoin rallying this week?
Recent transactions in the cryptocurrency market have led to bitcoin gaining more than 10% in value over the past two days.
MicroStrategy, an enterprise software and cloud service firm, revealed Monday that it has bought this month 3,000 bitcoin for $155.4 million. The company now owns a total of 193,000 coins worth about $10 billion.
Over $6 billion have entered the market since spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in January. The largest one, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, rose nearly 7% on Tuesday and was up 4% during premarket trading.
Another contributor to the digital currency’s hot demand is its upcoming “halving” event. In April, reward miners get will be halved from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125. This happens every four years and will continue until all 21 million bitcoins are mined.
Lifting all ships
The market cap of all bitcoin has surpassed $1 trillion this year, bringing the market cap of all cryptocurrencies to $2 trillion.
Ethereum, a smaller cryptocurrency, is up 7% to $3,274. The stock of the cyrpto exchange Coinbase has risen 6% during premarket trading, with its share price jumping 16% yesterday. bitcoin miner Riot Platforms is up 5% this morning.