After flirting with $54K late Monday, the price of the flagship cryptocurrency did not hesitate to take out $55,000, $56,000, and $57,000 levels in the span of minutes.
The milestone comes as South African comedian Trevor Noah admitted that his life’s biggest mistake was not investing in BTC when it was “worth nothing.”
Bitcoin Looks Primed For Huge Upside
Bitcoin briefly hit $57,000 early Tuesday to reach the highest value in over two years on the back of multiple catalysts, including the soaring volumes on spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETF) and institutional buying.
Trading volumes for nine new spot BTC ETFs topped $2.4 billion on Feb. 26, surpassing the previous record of $2.2 billion registered on the first trading day — Jan. 11, as per data shared by Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for the most volume on Feb. 26 with $1.3 billion, while Fidelity’s FBTC came in second at $576 million. Balchunas stated he wasn’t “totally sure” where the new interest emanated from, but conjectured that volumes are normally elevated on the first day of the trading week after the weekend.
Bitcoin’s surprising bump also came as leading institutional Bitcoin holder MicroStrategy had just acquired an additional 3,000 Bitcoin for a total of $155 million — bringing the company’s Bitcoin holdings to 193,000 BTC. That stash was acquired for $6.09 billion according to founder and executive chair Michael Saylor, but is now valued at $10.8 billion.
Bitcoin has gained a staggering 33% over the past 30 days and is now just 18.3% down from its November 2021 lifetime peak of $69,044.
The BTC rally buoyed the broader cryptocurrency market. Ethereum (ETH), Solana’s SOL, and Cardano’s ADA rose 4.3%, 7.3%, and 6.0% respectively in the past 24 hours, while top meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE) spiked over 7%.
Pundits suggest Bitcoin is now comfortably in a new bull market and could see a powerful upside as the much-anticipated halving event draws closer.
Trevor Noah Laments Over Missed Bitcoin Opportunity
Speaking during the opening night of the Web Summit Qatar 2024 in Doha on Feb. 26, 40-year-old Johannesburg-born comedian Trevor Noah told thousands of attendees what the biggest mistake he’s ever made in his life was.
“The biggest mistake I’ve ever made was not buying Bitcoin when it was nothing; that’s the biggest mistake I’ve made. It cost nothing at some point,” Trevor posited.
The comedian has previously discussed how cryptocurrencies are hitting the mainstream, price volatility, and nonfungible token (NFT) trading on the American late-night talk show, The Daily Show, which he hosted for seven years before leaving in September 2022.
Trevor also acknowledged during the Qatar tech conference on Sunday that another mistake he made was “not taking the time to understand” Bitcoin.
With the Bitcoin miner rewards halving just over a month away, which historically boosts the prices, a meteoric rally lies ahead for BTC and other cryptocurrencies. Now is still a great time for Trevor — and other potential investors sitting on the sidelines — to jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon.