Bitcoin keeps soaring and surpassed $59,000 on Wednesday for the first time since 2021. The crypto currency has rallied all week, jumping 15% in just four days to $59,396.
Since the start of the year, bitcoin has gained 40% as result of renewed interest in the digital currency after the U.S. approved the first bitcoin spot ETFs. This enabled investors to get into the Bitcoin game without all the risk of directly investing in the still controversial currency.
Meanwhile, a technical event called “halving,” which restrains the mining of new bitcoins, is approaching in April, and will likely keep bitcoin prices rising. The cryptocurrency is now just $10,000 away from breaking its all-time high of $68,999.
What is bitcoin halving?
In April, the reward miners get for minting new bitcoin 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.
Halving was written into bitcoin’s code from the beginning to ensure scarcity and safeguard from inflation. Previous halving events coincided with huge price increases for bitcoin.
How other crypto assets doing
The market cap of all bitcoin surpassed $1 trillion this year, bringing the market cap of all cryptocurrencies to $2 trillion.
Ethereum, a smaller cryptocurrency, is up 2% to $3,334. The stock of the cyrptocurrency exchange Coinbase rose 5% during premarket trading Wednesday. Stock in bitcoin miner Riot Platforms was up 4% Wednesday morning.
Stock in enterprise software and cloud service firm MicroStrategy, one of the largest public holders of bitcoin, rose 7% during premarket trading Wednesday after gaining 9% on Tuesday.
The company revealed on Monday that it has bought 3,000 bitcoin for $155.4 million this month. The company now owns a total of 193,000 coins worth about $10 billion.