Bitcoin marks an all-time high above US$69,000

He bitcointhe most used cryptocurrency, exceeded US$69,000 this Tuesday and marked a new all-time high, driven by the entry into the market of large investment funds, although hours later it deflated and lost the level of US$63,000.

The cryptocurrency touched US$69,210 at 10:04 local time in New York (15:04 GMT), according to data from Coin Metrics collected by CNBC, although the figure differs on different platforms and media.

In any case, it surpassed its previous record, of US$68,991.85, established on November 10, 2021.

However, from that moment on, bitcoin lost steam and after the close of Wall Street, at 22:20 GMT, it stood at around US$62,700, with a decline of more than US$6,000 compared to the record.

This Tuesday’s new high represented a rise of almost 80% compared to the annual low of US$38,500 recorded on January 23.

At the time of reaching the new record, the bitcoin market capitalization amounted to $1.35 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Subsequently, the capitalization has been reduced to 1.23 trillion dollars.

According to Eric Demuth, co-founder and CEO of the Bitpanda investment platform, the key to this accelerated rise in bitcoin has been the decision of the SEC, the US stock market supervisor, to authorize exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the spot price of this cryptocurrency.

“The approval of bitcoin spot ETFs has attracted institutional capital from the United States, further propelling bullish market sentiment”has explained.

Other factors have been, in his opinion, the growing “correlation” between the cryptocurrency market and the traditional financial sector, the possibility of a drop in interest rates and “a positive macroeconomic outlook”.

Demuth believes that the next ‘halving’ (the halving of the reward obtained by bitcoin ‘miners’), scheduled for April, will boost the price “even more”.

Unlike what happens with currencies issued by central banks, the creation of bitcoins is carried out in a decentralized manner through a process known as “mining”.

Historically, after a halving, bitcoin has appreciated.

Javier Pastor, director of Institutional Training at Bit2Me, assures that bitcoin is “in a completely new scenario” after ETFs were authorized, a decision that has led to the “institutionalization” of this cryptocurrency.

According to Pastor, previous bitcoin cycles had been handled by retail clients and companies native to the cryptocurrency sector, a situation that has now changed.

In his opinion, this new stage is marked by the entry into the market of large fund managers, to which sovereign funds could be added.

Pastor expects a continued rise in bitcoin as a “growing interest” on the part of funds combines with a scarce supply.