Bitcoin breaks $57,000 as big buyers circle

Bitcoin hit a two-year high on Tuesday on signs of large players buying the cryptocurrency, while smaller rival ether topped $3,200 for the first time since 2022, Reuters reported.

Bitcoin has rallied more than 10% in two sessions, helped by a Monday disclosure from crypto investor and software firm MicroStrategy that it had recently purchased about 3,000 bitcoins for an outlay of $155 million.

The original and largest cryptocurrency by market value has also been buoyed recently by the approval of bitcoin-owning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. On Monday, trading volumes in several of the funds spiked and crypto-linked firms rallied too, in contrast to nervous broader markets.

Bitcoin rose as far as $57,036 in the Asian morning its highest since late 2021. Ether rose as far as $3,275, its highest since April 2022.

“There’s only so much supply … but the demand unleashed by the U.S. spot ETFs seems to be relentless,” said Justin d’Anethan, head of partnerships in Asia at Keyrock, a digital asset market maker.