Bitcoin price rises above $60,000 — first time in two years

Bitcoin price on Wednesday rose above $60,000 for the first time in two years.

According to CoinMarketCap.com, Bitcoin rose by 7.66 percent to $61,280, as of the time of this report, from $56,917.

In April 2022, the digital currency fell as low as $19,297 from an all-time high of $68,990 recorded in November 2021.

The cryptocurrency has been on a bullish run, recording an 18.3 percent rise over the week, and a significant surge of over 158 percent in the past year.

Similarly, most major altcoins are rising steadily in the last 24 hours, with Ethereum climbing 3.60 percent to $3,352.90, while Binance coin (BNB) rose by 5 percent to $413.70.

The crypto market capitalisation has increased by $122 billion to $2.25 trillion within a day.

According to reports, the rally is largely driven by a surge in institutional interest, following the approval of 11 Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, which broke an all-time high of $2.4 billion in daily trading volume on February 26, 2024, and the anticipation of the upcoming Bitcoin halving event set for April 2024.

Bitcoin halving, a mechanism that reduces mining rewards by half, is known to precipitate substantial bull runs by slashing the rate at which new bitcoins are created, thereby reducing supply inflation by 50 percent.

According to Bryan Legend, investor and chief executive officer of Hectic Labs, this event often leads to a rally in Bitcoin price.

Meanwhile, the presidency, on February 21, 2024, called for a ban on Binance and other crypto platforms operating in Nigeria to curb foreign exchange (FX) rate distortions.

On February 5, 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had directed banks to close accounts of cryptocurrency traders.

The apex bank claimed that they are largely used in terrorism financing and money laundering, considering the anonymity of virtual transactions.

However, on December 22, 2023, CBN lifted the ban on cryptocurrency transactions and issued operational guidelines on virtual assets service providers (VASPs) to all banks and other financial institutions (OFIs).