Bitcoin’s hot streak continued Monday when it surged past $66,000 — its highest value in more than two years. The cryptocurrency set a record in November 2021, at just one cent below $69,000. Bitcoin has gained more than 40% in market value this year as it closes in on the $69,000 record.
That rise is partly due to the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January, which allows investors to trade the cryptocurrency with less risk. The approval drew lots of new investors into the cryptocurrency market.
Since trading started for spot bitcoin ETFs, more than $6 billion has entered the market, with Grayscale Bitcoin Trust surging 62% since January. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase and cryptocurrency miner Marathon Digital Holdings have outperformed bitcoin this year, gaining 59% and 45%, respectively.
Investors are anticipating Bitcoin’s “halving” event next month, which is expected to keep the cryptocurrency surging over the next few months. The event, which happens every four years, is when bitcoin miners start to gain only half the reward for minting new bitcoin. That reward will be cut from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125. The technical event was written into bitcoin’s code to safeguard the cryptocurrency from inflation and will continue until it reaches the cap of 21 million, which was created to make bitcoin a finite resource. After every 210,000 blocks are added to the chain, the reward is cut in half to slow down the pace of adding bitcoin to the supply in circulation.
Three previous halving events have seen the price of bitcoin rise in the months following. The latest event in May 2020 saw bitcoin’s price, which was around $8,750, increase 79% six months later, and 547% a year later.