LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Bitcoin hit $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time in more than two years, as a flurry of capital into new U.S. spot bitcoin exchange traded products fuelled a 42% price rally in February, which would mark its largest monthly gain since December 2020. Bitcoin was last up 6% at $60,131, its highest since November 2021, when it hit a record just below $70,000. Bitcoin was also heading for its largest week-on-week gain in a year, up 18.5% since Feb. 21
Traders have poured into bitcoin ahead of April's halving event - a process designed to slow the release of the cryptocurrency. In addition, the prospect of the Federal Reserve delivering a series of rate cuts this year has fed investor appetite for higher-yielding or more volatile assets. "Bitcoin is being driven by the support of consistent inflows into the new spot ETFs and outlook for April's halving event and June's Fed interest rate cuts," Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at retail investment platform eToro, said.