BTC returns to $60,000 for the first time in 27 months, once again becoming the world's most watched asset
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BTC returns to $60,000 for the first time in 27 months, once again becoming the world's most watched asset
New highs in sight, halving imminent—only the American people haven't been "freed" yet.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Nan Zhi, Odaily Planet Daily
After a long 27 months, Bitcoin has returned to $60,000, hitting its highest level since December 2021. Bitcoin has reached new highs against a series of fiat currencies including the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and South Korean won. It could be said that only the U.S. dollar holders are still waiting to "break even."
According to OKX market data, BTC briefly surpassed 60,000 USDT. At the time of this article's publication, it was trading at 60,500 USDT, up 6.4% over 24 hours—surpassing the previous high of 59,048 USDT set in December 2021—and now within easy reach of the November 2021 peak of 69,000 USDT. ETH broke above 3,300 USDT, currently at 3,345 USDT, up 2.4% over 24 hours.
However, apart from BTC, altcoins have shown weak momentum, with significant market divergence. BTC’s dominance in total market capitalization peaked at 51.85%. Leading the gains today were meme coins and inscription-related tokens: PEPE rose 50%, FLOKI by 22%, ORDI by 14.5%, and sats by 11.5%.
Driven by the overall bullish trend, the total cryptocurrency market cap has surged rapidly. According to CoinGecko, the total crypto market cap has exceeded $2.34 trillion, up 2.7% in 24 hours. Alternative.me data shows a clear rise in investor trading enthusiasm, with the Fear & Greed Index reaching 82 today, up from 79 yesterday and just 55 last month, indicating "extreme greed."
In derivatives trading, Coinglass data reveals that over the past 24 hours, total liquidations across all platforms reached $300 million, including $167 million in short liquidations and $133 million in long liquidations. BTC accounted for $104 million in liquidations, while ETH saw $48.15 million.
U.S. Investors Keep Buying
Bitcoin Spot ETFs Continue Inflows
According to Farside Investors, since their launch on January 11, Bitcoin spot ETFs have seen cumulative net inflows exceeding $6.7 billion, including:
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IBIT: $6.441 billion in net inflows;
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FBTC: $4.476 billion in net inflows;
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GBTC: $7.591 billion in net outflows.
Dune data shows that as of writing, the combined holdings of 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs (including GBTC) have reached 746,571 BTC, with total assets under management growing to $44.25 billion. Fidelity has included a recommendation on its official website suggesting investors allocate 1%–3% of their portfolio to Bitcoin. The inflow trend continues with no signs of slowing down.
On the other hand, trading activity has exploded, highlighting investor enthusiasm. According to a CoinShares report, daily average trading volume for Bitcoin ETPs has increased from $34 million in 2023 to $2 billion in 2024.
MicroStrategy Realizes $5.5 Billion Unrealized Profit
On February 26, Tree News reported that between February 15 and February 25, 2024, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries purchased approximately 3,000 bitcoins for about $155.4 million in cash. On that very day, BTC ended its sideways movement and began an upward trend, rising from 51,731 USDT to 54,471 USDT—a single-day gain of 7.77%.
On February 13, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor told CNBC that demand from Bitcoin spot ETFs far exceeds supply from miners, and the company plans to buy more Bitcoin.
TD Cowen analysts stated in a report that MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin strategy “will prove value-accretive to shareholders over time. MicroStrategy represents a new type of company that generates dollar-based cash flows through enterprise software and cloud services, then converts excess cash flow into Bitcoin on an effectively leveraged basis. What started as a defensive strategy to protect reserve asset value has evolved into an opportunistic strategy aimed at accelerating shareholder value creation.”
At the time of writing, MicroStrategy holds a total of 193,000 BTC at an average purchase price of 31,544 USDT per coin. At a price of $60,000, this represents an unrealized profit of approximately $5.5 billion.
Miners Continue to Double Down
On February 28, Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms purchased 31,500 WhatsMiner units for $97.4 million. This acquisition will increase the company’s self-mining hashrate at its Rockdale facility from 12.4 EH/s to 15.1 EH/s by the end of July.
In December last year, Riot disclosed it had spent $290.5 million purchasing 66,000 mining machines and may opt to buy an additional 265,000 MicroBT miners under similar terms, which would help boost its hashrate beyond 100 EH/s in the long term.
According to CryptoQuant analysis, large entities continue accumulating, while miner selling remains subdued. Over the past few weeks, daily Bitcoin sales by mining firms have averaged fewer than 100 BTC—sharply contrasting with levels exceeding 1,000 BTC per day seen between November and December 2022.
Michael Saylor previously noted that after the halving, miners’ selling capacity will drop from $12 billion to $6 billion annually, which could support further Bitcoin price appreciation. Riot Platforms’ continued investment in mining equipment reflects its long-term optimism regarding Bitcoin’s price trajectory.
$69,000 Is No Longer Out of Reach
Beyond the sustained buying pressure from Bitcoin spot ETFs, growth across various blockchain ecosystems is also fueling the rally. Over the past two months, there has been explosive growth in the number of projects and total value locked (TVL) within the Bitcoin ecosystem. For example, Merlin Chain’s mainnet TVL has surpassed $2 billion, BounceBit—a Bitcoin staking L1 project—has exceeded $500 million in TVL, and ORDI, a leading BRC-20 token, recently hit 83.1 USDT, nearing its all-time high. Meanwhile, the Ethereum ecosystem also has several anticipated developments: Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is scheduled for March 13, Starknet has launched the first major airdrop of 2024, and the restaking sector is expected to go live this year, opening new growth pathways for Ethereum.
Bitcoin’s next halving event is set for April 21. A price of $69,000 is no longer distant. U.S. investors are close to breaking even—perhaps a new bull market has just begun.
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