Bitcoin climbed above $57,000 (R851 091) for the first time since May as speculators bet that the largest cryptocurrency will retest the record highs reached earlier this year.
It reached almost $65,000 in April, and has roughly doubled this year. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index increased as much as 2.4% on Monday.
As in past rallies, a myriad of reasons are being cited for the latest surge, from an easing of concern about regulatory efforts in the U.S. and China, as well as renewed optimism about a possible U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Investors are particularly excited that a Bitcoin futures ETF may be soon green-lighted by the U.S. regulator, as SEC chair Gary Gensler has signaled openness to a fund focused exclusively on the derivatives-based product.
"A lot of investors and advisors have had crypto on their to do list, and are finally making the move with allocations that start with Bitcoin," or crypto funds like the Bitwise 10 that invest heavily in Bitcoin, said Hunter Horsley, the chief executive of Bitwise Invest. Bitwise has seen "hundreds" of advisors make their first allocations to crypto over the last several weeks, with many flocking to the asset class amid macro-fears about inflation and low yields, he said.
Some strategists are also cheering the resilience of the Bitcoin as seen by the recovery in its so-called hash rate, a measure of computing power being contributed to the network, following China's latest crackdown on mining earlier this year. As mining operations in China shut down, transaction processors across North America ramped up. A metric that tracks the hash rate's power has jumped 103% since late June, according to a report from Luxor Technology.
"The time-honored FUD that China controls (or will attempt to control Bitcoin) is now moot. Hash rate is being distributed around the globe with North America emerging as the new dominant hub," said the report.
Analysts who look at patterns in price charts say that $60,000 is the next level of resistance, though Bitcoin's relative strength index above 70 suggests that its now in overbought territory.
Elsewhere, Shiba Inu -- a Dogecoin-inspired meme cryptocurrency --climbed 20% after more than tripling over the last week, according to CoinMarketCap.
THE WASHINGTON POST