Bitcoin climbs above $42,000 with jump of 5.7%

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Bitcoin's price climbed above $42,000 on Friday with a daily surge of 5.7%, strongly rebounding from its steep losses in recent days.

Price of Bitcoin rose to almost $42,100 at 1.09 p.m. EDT with a 5.7% increase, after it plummeted Monday below the $39,000 level for the first time in more than seven weeks.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market cap, was up 2.3% to $2,265 at the same time, while some altcoins saw their prices rising as much as 16%.

Total value of the cryptocurrency market rose more than 4.3% to $1.62 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap, a digital asset price-tracking website.

Bitcoin plummeted to $38,559 on Tuesday, marking its lowest level since Dec. 2, 2023 due to fading optimism among investors who liquidated their positions a week after the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Price of Bitcoin touched almost the $49,000 level on Jan. 11 – the day when the US' Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. The much-awaited decision allows investors, especially financial institutions, to trade and hold Bitcoin without owning it.

The sell-off in the world's biggest cryptocurrency also came with reports that bankrupt crypto exchange firm FTX's bankruptcy estate sold 22 million shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) that was worth $1 billion.

Investors, in addition, are estimated to have sold over $2 billion worth of the GBTC, one of the first spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, since early January.

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, meanwhile, has become the first fund to reach $2 billion on Friday in terms of assets under management, also known as AUM, as it holds almost 50,000 Bitcoin.