Bitcoin has hit a new all-time high above $69,000, say Joe Tidy and Liv McMahon for the BBC. The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency is up by 42% since the start of the year, surpassing the previous record that has stood since November 2021. The boom has been driven by strong inflows of investors’ cash into US bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Most types of bitcoin ETF had been banned in the US until regulators changed their stance in January. The ETF approval has opened up bitcoin to a much wider range of investors and brought huge asset-management firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity into an asset class that traditional finance once considered taboo.
Outshining gold
Gold has also hit a new record high in dollar terms. The yellow metal broke through the $2,100 an ounce level at the start of the week. It has gained 12% over the last 12 months. However, the bitcoin rally has taken the shine off gold, says Richard Abbey on Bloomberg. Inflows into new bitcoin ETFs “appear to have come at the expense of gold ETFs, which have had net outflows” recently. “BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust alone has accumulated $10bn in just seven weeks – the fastest an ETF has ever hit that milestone,” adds Bloomberg. “The air of legitimacy that the new ETFs provide sets this crypto bull market apart from prior boom-and-bust crypto cycles.”
The “tech-based market melt-up continues to gather pace,” says Laith Khalaf of AJ Bell. While it is tempting to jump in, with an asset as “febrile as crypto... anyone buying in should be willing to accept the potential downside”. Indeed, bitcoin crashed 10% so
