Bitcoin reclaimed the $1 trillion market cap level on Wednesday morning, as the pre-eminent cryptocurrency rose 4.6% over the last 24 hours to $51,306, according to data from CoinGecko.
Bitcoin’s market cap hadn’t reached the trillion-dollar level since Dec. 2021. Earlier this week, the price of bitcoin surpassed the $50,000 mark for the first time since Dec. 2021 as well.
On Wednesday, the market cap of all cryptocurrencies also hit a combined milestone of $2 trillion, a level it last reached in April 2022, as bitcoin’s rice has taken most of the crypto market along with it.
Bitcoin prices have been on a steady climb since Feb. 7 as money continues to pour into spot bitcoin ETFs. As a group excluding Grayscale’s GBTC, which was converted from an existing trust, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have amassed more than $10 billion in assets after only launching on Jan. 11.
Read more: 5 Ways That Spot Bitcoin ETFs Have Smashed All Expectations
Craig Erlam, a market analyst at online trading provider Oanda, said that in addition to the ETF inflows, bitcoin has gotten a boost recently from investors’ higher risk appetites and the prospect of lower interest rates.
“After a couple of difficult years, the stars aligned for bitcoin,” Elam wrote in an email to Unchained. “The combination of a favorable environment and some important developments for the instrument itself has given it a huge lift. And with the halving event on the horizon, attention will remain on bitcoin which is exactly what the crypto community will want.”
