Bitcoin Soars Past $40K As Bull Run Seemingly On The Horizon

Bitcoin is finally on the rise again, thanks to its recent resurgence which persisted throughout the weekend. The flagship crypto surpassed $40,000 in price on Sunday afternoon, as reported by CoinGecko. More importantly, this marks the first instance since April 2022 that Bitcoin has reached such heights, just before the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a significant downturn. As of the time of this writing, BTC is trading at just over $41,400.

Bitcoin is back

The nearly 20-month peak for Bitcoin signifies a 15% ascent in the last 30 days, with the value of the cryptocurrency more than doubling since this same period last year. The escalating value also seems to mirror ongoing optimism and enthusiasm surrounding the anticipated approval of a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.

Numerous companies have submitted applications to operate these ETFs, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently engaged in discussions with some of these firms as well. Moreover, Bitcoin is not the sole cryptocurrency displaying an uptrend over the weekend, as Ethereum found itself trading above $2,200 for the first time since May 2022.

Bull run or trap?

Although both BTC and ETH have seen a modest increase within a 24 hour period, their values have been gradually rising of late. Several prominent NFT projects have also observed increases in their price points this weekend, with the most affordable assets listed in popular projects like Pudgy Penguins, DeGods, and Azuki experiencing double-digit percentage gains over the last 24 hours, according to NFT Price Floor.

In any case, investors are constantly pondering the question of whether this is the early sign of a potential bull run or if it is a false narrative which is designed to trap unaware traders. However, with the aforementioned ETF approval seemingly around the corner alongside the looming Bitcoin halving event, which is expected to occur around the middle of 2024, crypto could very well finally escape the long winter which began in 2022.