<p>London: The total amount of money invested in bitcoin surpassed $1 trillion (Rs 8,303 cr) on Wednesday for the first time since November 2021 as inflows to US spot bitcoin exchange traded funds continued to support prices.</p><p>Bitcoin's price reached $51,606 on Wednesday, its latest 25-month high and a rise of 4.1% on the day, taking the token's market cap to $1.005 trillion, according to price platform <em>Coingecko</em>.</p><p>The all-time high for bitcoin's market cap was $1.28 trillion hit in November 2021, according to <em>Coingecko</em>.</p><p>The world's largest cryptocurrency has risen around 20% since the start of February, already set for its biggest monthly rise since October.</p><p>Investments in bitcoin make up for more than half of the $2.01 trillion parked in the overall cryptocurrency market which includes ether and other digital coins.</p>.Cryptoverse: Will bitcoin behave better on Wall Street?.<p>Strong inflows to new US-listed ETFs have driven some of the price action in recent weeks, say analysts, and capital flows into the 11 US spot bitcoin ETFs increased to $1.64 billion in the week to Wednesday, LSEG Lipper data showed.</p><p>The previous five trading sessions saw inflows of $409 million to the products, which received regulatory approval and began trading in January.</p><p>"Whether this pace will be sustained remains to be seen but in crypto, price often drives flow," said analysts at crypto liquidity provider B2C2.</p><p>"One has to imagine that if there are more days like the last few, large inflows will be met by further price rises for spot (bitcoin)."</p><p><strong>Crypto-linked stocks jump</strong></p><p>Shares of US-listed cryptocurrency companies also gained before the bell on Wednesday, with exchange Coinbase climbing 7%, while miners Riot Platforms and CleanSpark gained nearly 9% and 16%, respectively.</p><p>Bitcoin had hit an all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021, before struggling for much of 2022 and the first part of 2023, weighed down by monetary tightening by global central banks, and a slew of high profile failures at crypto companies, including leading exchange FTX.</p><p>But in the last few months, hopes of a soft landing for the economy and the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs have helped sentiment. The ETFs have been touted as a game-changer for the industry, already known for its appeal to retail traders, since investors can now have exposure to bitcoin without directly holding the asset.</p><p>Second-largest token ether, which underpins the ethereum network, was last up 4.1% at $2,742 its highest since May 2022.</p>
<p>London: The total amount of money invested in bitcoin surpassed $1 trillion (Rs 8,303 cr) on Wednesday for the first time since November 2021 as inflows to US spot bitcoin exchange traded funds continued to support prices.</p><p>Bitcoin's price reached $51,606 on Wednesday, its latest 25-month high and a rise of 4.1% on the day, taking the token's market cap to $1.005 trillion, according to price platform <em>Coingecko</em>.</p><p>The all-time high for bitcoin's market cap was $1.28 trillion hit in November 2021, according to <em>Coingecko</em>.</p><p>The world's largest cryptocurrency has risen around 20% since the start of February, already set for its biggest monthly rise since October.</p><p>Investments in bitcoin make up for more than half of the $2.01 trillion parked in the overall cryptocurrency market which includes ether and other digital coins.</p>.Cryptoverse: Will bitcoin behave better on Wall Street?.<p>Strong inflows to new US-listed ETFs have driven some of the price action in recent weeks, say analysts, and capital flows into the 11 US spot bitcoin ETFs increased to $1.64 billion in the week to Wednesday, LSEG Lipper data showed.</p><p>The previous five trading sessions saw inflows of $409 million to the products, which received regulatory approval and began trading in January.</p><p>"Whether this pace will be sustained remains to be seen but in crypto, price often drives flow," said analysts at crypto liquidity provider B2C2.</p><p>"One has to imagine that if there are more days like the last few, large inflows will be met by further price rises for spot (bitcoin)."</p><p><strong>Crypto-linked stocks jump</strong></p><p>Shares of US-listed cryptocurrency companies also gained before the bell on Wednesday, with exchange Coinbase climbing 7%, while miners Riot Platforms and CleanSpark gained nearly 9% and 16%, respectively.</p><p>Bitcoin had hit an all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021, before struggling for much of 2022 and the first part of 2023, weighed down by monetary tightening by global central banks, and a slew of high profile failures at crypto companies, including leading exchange FTX.</p><p>But in the last few months, hopes of a soft landing for the economy and the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs have helped sentiment. The ETFs have been touted as a game-changer for the industry, already known for its appeal to retail traders, since investors can now have exposure to bitcoin without directly holding the asset.</p><p>Second-largest token ether, which underpins the ethereum network, was last up 4.1% at $2,742 its highest since May 2022.</p>