Bitcoin Jumps Past $25K for First Time Since August

Bitcoin (BTC) rocketed past $25,000 for the first time since August, before quickly retreating below the threshold, according to CoinDesk data.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap was recently trading at about $24,920, up more than 9% over the past 24 hours. BTC had been lingering below $22,000 as recently as Tuesday before it begain to surge as investors shrugged off the latest tepid inflation data and a regulatory crackdown on stablecoins.

Ether climbed above $1,700 for the second consecutive today, rising nearly 9% from Wednesday, same time. Other major digital assets were firmly in the green with MATIC, the token of layer 2 platform Polygon Network, and APT recently climbing 12% and 9%, respectively.

Crypto-related stocks were also recently edging higher with exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) and business software provider MicroStrategy (MSTR), a major bitcoin holder, rising 3% and 2%, respectively. Shares of bitcoin miner company Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) rose by more than 4%. Equity markets were more widely ticking down, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 each off about a half percentage point.

In written comments to CoinDesk, Mark Connors, head of research for Canadian crypto asset manager 3iQ, noted that BTC is decoupling from equities. Connors added that "from a technical standpoint, weak hands were washed out of crypto in the aftermath "of the [Terra] and FTX failures so (there was) more upside risk for BTC."

And in an email to CoinDesk, Richard Mico, the U.S. CEO of crypto payment-and-compliance infrastructure provider Banxa, wrote that digital assets have continued to rebound from oversold positions late last year.

“The December lows followed just extreme volatility because of the FTX debacle, with the major crypto assets back then looking extremely oversold. It also appears there was significant tax-loss harvesting in December,” Mico wrote.

“Now, there are not that many forced sellers left in this market. They’ve already been washed out with various short squeezes,” he said.

UPDATE (Feb. 16, 2023, 16:52 UTC): Adds information about ether and other crypto prices and quotes from analysts.

CORRECTION (Feb. 16, 2023, 17:02 UTC): Corrects timing of previous surge past $25,000.