Bitcoin rises 175% as gold hits all-time high

Bitcoin was trading above $44,000 on Wednesday, 19 months after the failure of the Terra LUNA crypto currency triggered one of the largest sell-offs in the industry’s history

The price of bitcoin has finally recovered from the 2022 controversy that caused market-wide crypto failures.

Bitcoin was trading above $44,000 on Wednesday, 19 months after the failure of the Terra LUNA crypto currency triggered one of the largest sell-offs in the industry’s history.

The implosion of the FTX crypto exchange last November resulted in further losses, pushing bitcoin’s price below $17,000 by the beginning of 2023, however it has now recovered from both events.

Bitcoin’s price jump coincided with gains across other assets, with gold reaching an all-time high this week above $2,100.

Like gold, bitcoin is increasingly seen as a safe-haven asset during times of high inflation and economic upheaval because of its fixed supply. Some investors even refer to the crypto currency as ‘digital gold’.

Other crypto currencies have also seen considerable price rises in recent days, with Ethereum more than 10% higher over the last week, while Solano, Cardano and Dogecoin all up by between 7 and 27% during the past seven days.

The recovery has seen El Salvador – the country with the highest federal holdings of bitcoin – see its investment return a profit for the first time since 2021.

Bitcoin’s price has been boosted by hopes that a bitcoin ETF will be approved in the US, bringing bigger institutional investors to the crypto space.

Such a move would be a validation of bitcoin as a mainstream asset, though rumours have been circulating for years without any bitcoin exchange-traded fund being approved to date.

Should the US SEC fail to approve an exchange-traded fund for the crypto currency, analysts warn it could send bitcoin down again.