Bitcoin’s price at one point on Thursday reached $24,748.43 up by 4.81% with 24-hour trading, according to Coinbase. Thursday’s increase is a continuation of the rally by the first cryptocurrency with its price rising by 7.69% in just one week. Bitcoin currently enjoys a market cap of $470.5 billion and has a current circulating supply of 19,118,581 BTC coins.
Across the board prices of cryptocurrencies are seeing a surge this week after a softer-than-expected inflation report, with Ethereum, Bitcoin’s biggest rival leading the pack with its value rising by 18.63% in the past week. Currently, Ethereum’s price is being traded at $1,910.655 per ETH.
Why is Bitcoin going up?
Bitcoin rose above $24,000 on Wednesday, hitting its highest level in more than a month. During the past week, Bitcoin prices continue to rise growing in value from Friday’s lowest value of $22,392 to Thursday’s high of $24,569. Despite the increase in Bitcoin prices, it however remains 64.02% below the all-time high of $68,789.63 in November 2021. In recent weeks the cryptocurrency market has seen a rebound possibly indicating an end to the infamous crypto winter.
This is a relief for many investors as June saw the price of Bitcoin dropping by about 38%, which is one of the biggest drops in a single month in the history of the cryptocurrency. The price of bitcoin has been stable for the past week, which has helped it make up for its losses this month.
One reason why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices are going up is that they are being tracked closely with the stock market this year. In recent weeks markets have largely been in a downturn, but have rallied across the US, Europe, and Asia recently, helping crypto follow along that trajectory.
Another factor that is playing into the crypto market’s rebound is the cooling off of the inflation that has adversely impacted both commodities and the stock market. Analysts attribute the slowing of U.S. inflation also boosted the crypto market, sending Bitcoin back up to the $24,000 threshold on news that the consumer price index (CPI) is holding steady. The Consumer Price Index was unchanged in July on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 1.3 percent in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The US consumer price index rose by 8.5 percent year on year in July, a slower annual increase compared with June, as inflation eased on the heels of lower gas prices. Expectations that inflation will begin to decrease are helping to improve investors’ confidence.
What’s also fueling Bitcoin’s Rise?
The crypto market also got another shot in the arm thanks to news that Coinbase is partnering with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager to offer crypto investment services for large institutional investors and wealthy private clients. According to the agreement, Coinbase Prime will provide crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage, and reporting capabilities to Aladdin’s institutional client base who are also clients of Coinbase. The deal will allow Bitcoin to garner further utility among other major investments including pension funds, mutual funds, foundations, and endowments.
Coinbase Prime is primarily built for institutions and integrates advanced agency trading, custody, prime financing, staking, and staking infrastructure, data, and reporting that supports the entire transaction lifecycle. It also combines these capabilities with leading security, insurance, and compliance practices to provide institutional clients of Coinbase with a full-service platform to access crypto markets at scale. Coinbase’s clients include hedge funds, asset allocators, financial institutions, corporate treasuries, and other institutions.
“This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes”, said Joseph Chalom, Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock.
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This article, “Why is Bitcoin Up This Week?” was first published on Small Business Trends