Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to soar during New Year's trading, and is fast closing in on $46,000 per coin—a price not seen since March 2022.
The biggest digital coin by market cap is now priced at $45,707, according to CoinGecko. That's a jump of more than 7% in 24 hours. Over the past week, it's also up by 7%.
BTC has come a long way since last year, when it kicked off 2023 trading for below $17,000.
The coin's surge has led to over $133 million in short positions being liquidated in the last 24 hours, data from CoinGlass shows. A short is a type of derivative contract that allows investors to bet that the price of the asset will go down.
Hype surrounding the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) this month is causing investors to be bullish. Analysts expect the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to give the green light to at least one of the potential issuers vying to offer a Bitcoin ETF by January 10.
Decrypt's 2023 Person of the Year: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink
No topic has done more to bring hope to the crypto faithful in 2023 than the prospect of a spot Bitcoin ETF—and no one person has done more to make that dream a reality than BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. A Bitcoin ETF, which could open the floodgates for billions worth of institutional assets to flow into the market, has eluded crypto investors for more than a decade. It’s been the most highly anticipated event in crypto since Decrypt was founded in 2018. But following rejection after rejection from...
Investors have been calling for a Bitcoin ETF for 10 years, only for the SEC to reject every application that's been submitted. But last year, a number of high-profile Wall Street firms—including BlackRock—applied to the regulator to release their own crypto fund.
A Bitcoin ETF would give investors exposure to the biggest cryptocurrency in a safe and regulated way. At least, that's what potential issuers have promised.
BTC's rise has caused other coins and tokens to shoot up in value, too.
Solana (SOL), which caught investors' attention again last year, is now up nearly 7% in 24 hours, and is trading hands for $111.68—making it the best-performer after BTC of the top 20 coins and tokens.
While Ethereum (ETH), the second biggest digital coin, has risen nearly 3% in the past day and is now trading hands for $2,363.
Bitcoin Token ORDI Surges to New High, Nearing Top 50 Coins
The price of ORDI, by far the most valuable token minted using the Bitcoin BRC-20 standard, touched a new all-time high Friday as it inches nearer and nearer to the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The biggest BRC-2o asset hit a new peak price of $81.96, according to CoinGecko. It has since experienced a sell-off and has dropped by over 11%. It is now trading for $73.92, a 6% jump over the past 24 hours, and sits as the 56th largest cryptocurrency via market cap. Over the week, though, it...
Elsewhere, the price of ORDI, the largest token minted using the Bitcoin BRC-20 standard, is one of the hottest altcoins right now and is close to entering the top 50 biggest cryptocurrencies. It's trading for $81.78, a nearly 8% 24-hour rise.
Other well-performing altcoins include layer-1 blockchain Sei (SEI), which is up 18% over the past day and coming in priced at $0.75, and Astar Network (ASTR), having experienced a more than 18% jump in value. Its price now is $0.15.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
