By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 6 March 2024
In early March 2024, ahead of the halving, bitcoin briefly rose above its previous all-time high, reaching about $69,000. That was roughly 60% above its price of about $43,000 when the US spot bitcoin ETFs were approved, and the article attributes the rise largely to new demand from those funds.
At the same time, long-term holders were taking profits, with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust accounting for a large share of the selling. Large transaction sizes on exchanges such as Coinbase pointed to institutional involvement. The article describes the market as balancing new institutional demand against profit-taking by long-term holders, and suggests that this could lead to a supply crunch in the months around the halving.