Bitcoin rises to $60,000, positioning itself a short distance from the all-time high

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose above $60,000 on Wednesday, bringing it within striking distance of its all-time high as enthusiasm for the world’s largest cryptocurrency reached a frenzy last seen during a 2021 boom.

The digital asset rose as high as $63,900, hitting its highest intraday point since November 2021, before falling back to the $60,000 level following reports that some users of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (CURRENCY) started showing a $0 balance in their accounts.

Coinbase said it first on its website that “we understand that some users may see a zero balance on their Coinbase accounts and may experience errors when purchasing or selling” but that “your assets are safe.”

A second update states that “we are starting to see improvements in customer commerce. Due to increased traffic, some customers may still see errors logging in, sending, receiving, and with some payment methods.” A third update offered assurance that “we are starting to see Coinbase.com activity normalize.”

Its CEO Brian Armstrong also tried to calm customers on Wednesday. In a post on

Later in the day he said “apps are recovering” and wrote that the traffic increase had exceeded the company’s “tested load.”

Before prices retreated due to the Coinbase snafu, the rally had approached Bitcoin’s historical limit of $68,789. That pinnacle came in November 2021, six months before a spectacular crash in 2022.

“Ultimately, what we’re seeing is that cryptocurrencies are rising from the ashes of the 2022 market,” said Ryan Rasmussen, senior crypto research analyst for Bitwise Asset Management.

Bitcoin is riding a wave of enthusiasm triggered by a series of spot bitcoin exchange traded funds which began trading in January. These funds gave everyday investors broad exposure to the digital asset, triggering predictions of a new bull run.

The story continues

“Our hypothesis is that the price of bitcoin will reach $125,000 by the end of 2025,” Mark Palmer of Benchmark added to Yahoo Finance Live.

Investors are also bidding up other cryptocurrencies and related stocks. Year to date, the second largest cryptocurrency, ether (ET), outperformed bitcoin by more than 4%, while the total market value of all cryptocurrencies increased by about 34% to $2.22 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

One sign of growing enthusiasm for bitcoin is the trading activity of bitcoin ETFs launched in January. They recorded more than $6.7 billion in net flows, according to Wednesday’s data data collected by the London fund Farside Investors.

So far this quarter, bitcoin trading volume has surpassed levels seen during the same period in every quarter of 2023.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. (Brendan McDermid/REUTERS) (REUTERS / Reuters)

This activity has been a boon for major cryptocurrency trading venues, including Coinbase and Robinhood (HOOD).

But the surge in trading also became a liability for Coinbase on Wednesday as some of its users began reporting their account balances showing $0.

Coinbase shares fell in intraday trading as it provided updates on its efforts to resolve the issue and ended the day broadly stable.

Other bitcoin-related stocks are also rising. Marathon Digital Bitcoin Miner (MARA) and bitcoin holder MicroStrategy (MSTR) have increased by 35% and 40% respectively since the beginning of the year. MicroStrategy announced Monday morning that it had acquired an additional 3,000 BTC, bringing its total investment to 193,000 BTC, which was valued at over $11.8 billion on Wednesday.

Derivatives traders are also piling into the bitcoin rally, according to Cumberland Labs analyst Christopher Newhouse.

According to crypto derivatives data provider Coinglass, there are approximately $25 billion of open contracts in the bitcoin futures market. This is a new high for outstanding bitcoin futures bets, surpassing the level last set in April 2021.

“In the options market, the narrative is clear,” Newhouse added. “People are bullish.”

David Hollerith is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance covering banking, cryptocurrencies and other areas of finance.

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