Bitcoin tops $66,000 as it nears 2021 all-time high
The price of bitcoin rose to start the week, edging even closer to its all-time high after the rally took a breather over the weekend.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by 5% at $66,288.70, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose to as much as $66,479.70, its highest level since November 2021. Ether advanced 1.5% to $3,525.21.
Both coins are coming off their best week in almost a year (bitcoin gained about 21% and ether 16%) but paused their run over the weekend as the market digested two days of steep outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) that were offset by inflows into other "newborn" bitcoin ETFs.
"With the birth of these nine new ETFs the big moves now tend to take place during the normal trading week rather than the weekends," said Antoni Trenchev, cofounder of crypto exchange Nexo. "What we're seeing today ... might well be a rerun of early last week when bitcoin surged $10,000 in the space of a couple of days. We're in that sort of environment when a day or two of sideways consolidation can precede explosive price action thanks to the voracious demand of these new spot ETFs."
Investors have been extra eager to see bitcoin approach its all-time high. At $66,000 it's sitting about 4% off its November 2021 intraday record of $68,982.20.
$BTC
