Bitcoin rises above $45,000 first time since April 2022 on New Year

Bitcoin, kicked out the New Year with a bang on Tuesday, surging above $45,000 for the first time since April 2022 with hope surrounding the potential approval of exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds, the world's largest cryptocurrency.

With its highest year performance since 2020, Bitcoin gained 156% last year and reached a 21-month high of $45,532. It is still far from the record high of $69,000 it reached in November 2021, even if it was up 3.5% at $45,727 as of late according to Reuters.

The token associated with the Ethereum blockchain, ether, increased 2.6% to $2,414 on Tuesday after rising 91% in 2023.

After suffering severe losses in the last trading days of 2022, cryptocurrency stocks—which closely follow the price of bitcoin—soared in US premarket trading. Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital, and CleanSpark all saw gains of between 11.3% and 14.8%.

Coinbase, a US cryptocurrency exchange, increased 6.3%, while MicroStrategy, a software company and bitcoin investor, surged 9.4%.

The main concern among investors has been whether the US securities regulator will soon authorise a spot bitcoin ETF, which would attract billions of dollars in investments and open up the market to millions more people.

In recent years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has denied many requests to introduce spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), citing concerns about market manipulation.

However, there have been more indications in recent months that authorities are ready to approve at least some of the 13 planned spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It is anticipated that a decision will be made in early January.