Shaking off a clampdown on crypto companies by regulators over the past several weeks, Bitcoin has surged around 9% over the past 24 hours to break $25,000 for the first time since June 2022, according to CoinMarketCap data.
After more than eight months below the $25,000 mark, the cryptocurrency topped it before slightly retreating. The coin was trading at about $24,800 as of mid-day Thursday.
The performance of the most popular cryptocurrency also has lifted the second-leading cryptocurrency, Ether, which was up 8% and hovering near its highest point since September—about $1,700.
The rise in Bitcoin's price could partly be due to the rise of Bitcoin NFTs, called Ordinals, leading to more activity on the blockchain by users not seeking just financial transactions, according to a report from blockchain data company Glassnode. The total non-zero balance addresses on the Bitcoin blockchain are also reached at an all-time high of 44 million.
“This is a new and unique moment in Bitcoin history, where an innovation is generating network activity without a classical transfer of coin volume for monetary purposes,” Glassnode wrote in the report.
If we break the $25k, $30k is imminent!#Bitcoin $BTC pic.twitter.com/FNX1W5eGFL
— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) February 16, 2023
The recovery in crypto markets comes after a pullback in February following a slate of bad news for the industry.
Recent actions by regulators against crypto exchange Kraken and Paxos have sent shockwaves throughout the ecosystem, and had some questioning the future of crypto companies in the U.S.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, January’s consumer price index report saw inflation increase 0.5% for an annual increase of 6.4% to start off 2023. Although that figure is above analysts' expectations, prices had been falling for the past six months, fueled in part by rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Still, while leading economists have cautioned that 2023 could be a turbulent year for markets, some on Crypto Twitter have optimistically predicted an extended rally after Bitcoin’s most recent pump.
#Bitcoin is Feeding on the Fire of Truth. pic.twitter.com/N5NPOHFfkj
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) February 16, 2023
