Bitcoin nears its all-time high of $5

This Tuesday, the queen of cryptocurrencies came close to its historic record of $68,790, reached on November 10, 2021 according to CoinMarketCap.

The cryptocurrency market is booming. On the night of Tuesday March 5, bitcoin reached 68,785 dollars, coming close to its historic record of 68,790 dollars, reached on November 10, 2021, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin has since fallen again, trading at $66,880 at 10:00 a.m. this Tuesday March 5, being only 2.86% from its peak. Bitcoin gained 2.9% in one day, 19% in one week and 56% in one month. Its capitalization amounts to 1,300 billion dollars, bringing the entire crypto market above $2.5 billion in capitalization.

The price of bitcoin can vary by a few dollars depending on the cryptocurrency exchange platforms. BFM Crypto was based on the price of bitcoin established by CoinMarketCap, which averages the bitcoin price of different crypto platforms. For example, on November 10, 2021, on CoinGeckothe price of bitcoin exceeded its absolute record at $69,045 while on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange platform, its all-time high stood at $68,793.

Several factors explain this surge. On the one hand, the American stock market watchdog (the SEC) authorized 11 spot bitcoin ETFs on January 10, offered in particular by asset managers like Blackrock and Fidelity. Since then, investors have been flocking to these new products. An ETF (or Exchange Traded Funds) is an index fund trading on a stock exchange which follows the evolution of a stock index (or one or more financial or physical assets, such as gold) by replicating the increase as well as the drop in the price of this index (or these assets).

Furthermore, some investors are anticipating an event that will take place on April 19: the bitcoin halving. This event consists of the halving, every 4 years, of the number of new bitcoins put into circulation on the market (as rewards to miners who validate transactions). Over the last three halvings, a reduction in the available supply of new bitcoins has caused the value of the asset to increase. Some experts anticipate a further increase in assets after April 2024.