Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) is set to rise 21.7% on a week-over-week basis, as its bull run continued this week, leading it to go past the $60K mark, for the first time in over two years. During the week, the world's biggest cryptocurrency touched $62.8K, as its market cap surged to $1.23T. In the past couple of months, institutional demand has majorly driven market activity, particularly through new ETF inflows, but retail participation is starting to resurge, said Matt Ballensweig, the managing director, head of Go Network at digital asset trust company, BitGo. "This recent BTC rally is being driven by record setting inflows as $8 billion worth of net new demand has poured into the nine new bitcoin ETFs over the last 60 days. What we are seeing are historic, record setting levels of activity. Pandora’s Box has now been opened," Ballensweig added. However, Michael Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital, believes BTC is about to see a correction before prices can resume climbing after the “very frothy levels” it reached. The cryptocurrency's surge also continued to be boosted by the trading frenzy among U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) exchange-traded funds, according to a report by CoinDesk. However, SA contributor, Stony Chambers Asset Research , said BTC's bull cycle is driven by factors that are beyond ETFs, including the halving event, macroeconomic conditions, and the emergence of meta protocols and layer 2 solutions. "The Halving event, which reduces the supply of Bitcoin, historically leads to price surges before and after the event. Meta protocols and layer 2 solutions on Bitcoin expand its utility and attract more users, potentially driving broader adoption and increasing its value," added Stony Chambers Asset Research. This significant increase in trading volume further solidified the bullish momentum in the cryptocurrency market, indicating strong interest and participation from investors. Certain cryptocurrency-linked stocks also saw a jump in their share prices, especially at the start of the week. On Friday, crypto-linked stocks, Riot Platforms ( NASDAQ: RIOT ) closed 2.3% higher , Marathon Digital ( NASDAQ: MARA ) was up 4.3% , Bitfarms ( NASDAQ: BITF ) up 2.81% , Coinbase Global ( NASDAQ: COIN ) up 1.1% , and CleanSpark ( NASDAQ: CLSK ) up 6.8% The upbeat sentiment has strengthened further in recent times, as hoarders are eagerly awaiting the highly anticipated halving event, scheduled to take place in April. Notable News BlackRock's ( NYSE: BLK ) iShares Bitcoin Trust ( NASDAQ: IBIT ) has exceeded $10B in assets under management just seven weeks after the fund started trading. The Merrill Lynch arm of Bank of America ( BAC ) and the brokerage division of Wells Fargo ( WFC ) are offering spot Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) exchange-traded funds to clients, in a move that expands the pool of Wall Street giants that have come to accept such products. Coinbase ( COIN ) said early Thursday that it resolved an issue that on Wednesday had some users seeing a zero balance in their accounts . Shares of Marathon Digital ( MARA ) slid about 17% on Thursday, extending the fall from a day earlier, when the bitcoin miner posted its quarterly per-share earnings that missed consensus. Morgan Stanley ( NYSE: MS ) is considering offering spot bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) exchange-traded funds to customers of its broker-dealer platform, according to a media report dated Wednesday. Bitcoin, Ether prices Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) inched up 2.76% at 4:26 pm ET on Friday, and Ether ( ETH-USD ) was up ~3% to $3.4K. More on crypto Bitcoin Revisited: Yes, Still Buying Hand Over Fist Bitcoin Is Ripe For A Midcycle Correction Bitcoin: The Case For Buying Or Holding Ahead Of Halving BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF exceeds $10B in AUM Bank of America, Wells Fargo offer access to spot bitcoin ETFs - report
