Bitcoin hits $60,000 for 1st time in more than 2 years

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The price of Bitcoin hit $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time in more than two years.

Bitcoin hit the mark at 8.23 a.m. EDT and it was trading at $60,226 at 8.43 a.m. for a daily gain of 6.2%. That was last seen in November 2021.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency saw its price climb above $54,000 on Monday for the first time since Dec. 3, 2021, and it is up a massive 17.9% in the last seven days.

Bitcoin has been on a rally since Jan. 11, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, or exchange-traded funds. The move allowed investors, especially financial institutions, to trade Bitcoin without owning it.

In addition, Bitcoin will see its halving in the second half of April as traders adopt a bullish stance.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market cap, was up 2.4% to $3,345 at 8.45 a.m., gaining a whopping 15.2% in the past week.

The price surge in Ethereum results from the potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF and its upcoming Dencun upgrade on March 13.

With the rally in Bitcoin and Ethereum, some altcoins saw daily price gains of more than 20%.

The value of the cryptocurrency market was up 4.6% to $2.24 trillion, while Bitcoin's share of the crypto market, known as dominance, was at 52.9% and Ethereum's dominance was at 18%, according to data from CoinMarketCap, a digital asset price-tracking website.