The bitcoin exchange rate has exceeded $59 thousand

Bitcoin continues its upward trend on Wednesday, reaching new highs since November 2021.

According to CoinDesk, the bitcoin exchange rate increased by 4% to $59,272. At the moment, the price reached $59,482. The last historical peak was recorded in November 2021, when the exchange rate reached $68,990.

Since the beginning of this year, the price of cryptocurrency has increased by 40%, attracting the attention of investors in funds investing in bitcoin, as well as in anticipation of the upcoming bitcoin halving event in April. Halving is a halving of miners' remuneration for adding a new block to the blockchain, which happens about once every four years and usually has a positive effect on the price of cryptocurrency.

The growth of bitcoin is also facilitated by the increase in shares of cryptocurrency companies. In particular, the securities of the Coinbase Global exchange rose by 5.5% in preliminary trading on Wednesday. Shares of IT company MicroStrategy Inc., which owns a significant amount of bitcoins, rose by 7.8%. The capitalization of the mining companies Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. also increased by 7.4% and 4.8%, respectively.

Experts note that major players are pouring funds into bitcoin ahead of the April halving, and prices are likely to continue to rise in the near future. However, the question is whether growth will continue after halving, or traders are just buying on rumors and will sell on the news. 

Some analysts believe that given the reduced supply of bitcoins and the recent approval of bitcoin ETFs, there are serious arguments in favor of continued growth, even to $100 thousand by the end of the year.