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Crypto prices rose on Thursday as bitcoin and ether headed for its strongest month in greater than three years.
Bitcoin was last higher by greater than 3% at $62,243.05 on the final day of February, based on Coin Metrics. On Wednesday, it surged to $64,000 at one point, before a wave of long liquidations triggered a pullback to about $60,000. Ether advanced greater than 4% to $3,440.65 on Thursday.
The 2 coins shot higher in February after ending January flat. Bitcoin is now up 47% for the month, marking its sixth straight month of gains — its best showing since December 2020. Ether has advanced greater than 51%, also heading for its sixth up month in a row and its best month since July 2022.
Bitcoin YTD
The month was a triumph for bitcoin ETFs, which saw a record $677 million in day by day net inflows on Wednesday alone for the third day in a row of inflows above $500 million. Initially, outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC), which had a head start on its rivals from when it operated as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, had weighed on the bitcoin price. Those outflows have now diminished.
Investors attribute February’s explosive gains to bitcoin’s supply and demand dynamics. Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs, pointed specifically to the latest ETFs and the upcoming Bitcoin halving.
“We have seen over $2 billion coming into the various bitcoin ETFs so there’s been this have to access more supply of bitcoin to construct these ETFs and that finally ends up driving prices up particularly in the near term,” she said.
“The second reason why you may be getting some extra momentum in the price over the last couple of days is the upcoming halving,” she added. “Historically the halving has led to bitcoin prices increasing … past performance just isn’t indicative of future performance, but I do think there’s this belief that the halving process will lead to the same level of price appreciation.”
The halving is a mandate in the Bitcoin code to chop the reward mining bitcoin in half to scale back the supply of bitcoin every few years and create a scarcity effect. The following one is predicted this April.
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