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In brief: The roller coaster ride that is Bitcoin is very much alive and well. Following a rough 2022 that saw the virtual currency shed more than $31,000 in value from the beginning of January through the end of December, the polarizing cryptocurrency is back on the upswing.
Bitcoin entered 2023 trading at $16,605.10 – an impressive figure in the grand scheme of things but far less than the 47K and change a single coin was commanding just one year earlier. Its price has been on a mostly steady upward trend ever since save for a couple of minor dips.
As of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $30,178.30 which represents an increase of nearly 82 percent since the beginning of the year. It is the highest price Bitcoin has hit since June 2022.
Bitcoin reached its all time peak in November 2021 when a single coin could net you nearly $67,000.
As is often the case, other cryptocurrencies have mirrored Bitcoin’s path. Ethereum was trading around $1,200 at the start of the year but is now up to $1,915, a gain of nearly 60 percent year-to-date. Binance Coin is up about 33 percent so far this year, as is Litecoin.
Some believe the latest crypto rally is related to last month’s Silicon Valley Bank collapse and the resulting fallout. Bradley Duke, co CEO of crypto exchange-traded product provider ETC Group, told Bloomberg that some investors are drawn to crypto because they view it as an asset outside of traditional banking and finance.
Business intelligence and mobile software firm MicroStrategy has continued to invest heavily in Bitcoin. Late last month, the company revealed it had purchased roughly 6,455 Bitcoins over the trailing several weeks at an average price of $23,238 per coin. As of March 23, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries were holding 138,955 Bitcoins at an average purchase price of $29,817. At Bitcoin’s current value, the stash is worth around $4.2 billion.
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