Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: BENOÎT DURAND / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 6:40 p.m., March 8, 2024

Cryptocurrency is on the rise.

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high this Friday at more than $70,000.

In 2024 alone, the price of this virtual currency, created by a certain Satoshi Nakamoto whose true identity is not known, has soared, reaching around 60%. 

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high on Friday at more than $70,000, driven by the growing appetite for risk among investors, who seem to forget the scandals, bankruptcies and colossal losses of recent years.

Bitcoin rose to $70,085.85, a new high since its inception, before falling back.

The price of bitcoin soared by around 60% 

The queen of cryptocurrencies has thus surpassed its previous record recorded earlier in the week, and seems set to continue its rise.

In 2024 alone, the price of bitcoin will soar by around 60%.

The "downward movement of the dollar" after the publication on Friday of the US employment report for February has boosted the price of bitcoin, which is benefiting from growing speculation of an anticipated rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), explains James Harte, analyst at TickMill.

The unemployment rate increased in February in the United States, to 3.9% from 3.7% in January.

Furthermore, job creations in January and December were revised downwards.

Overall, Fawad Razaqzada considers the employment report “weak”.

“It is now more likely that the Fed (American central bank, editor’s note) will reduce its rates in June,” he underlines.

As the dollar becomes less profitable, investors are encouraged to invest in products with higher potential returns.

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The result is “a sharp increase in risk appetite and a marked movement towards high-yielding assets, such as cryptocurrencies,” continues Mr. Harte.

But these potentially profitable assets have experienced spectacular setbacks in the past.

In 2017, a previous cycle of unbridled enthusiasm on the markets had already been followed by a collapse in prices.

Central banks and regulatory authorities continue to call for caution in the face of this highly speculative market.

The crypto sector has also been shaken in recent years by the fall of several star entrepreneurs and high-profile bankruptcies.

Changpeng Zhao, who was head of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, left office at the end of 2023 and pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in the United States.

Its biggest rival, FTX, went bankrupt at the end of 2022, and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of several charges, including fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.

The cryptocurrency sector in turmoil

For several months, the price of bitcoin has been supported by the anticipation of the authorization on the American markets of a new investment product, an investment fund (ETF) indexed to bitcoin, allowing a greater part of the public to invest in these cryptoassets without directly holding them.

Enough to put the cryptocurrency sector in turmoil.

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Another major event boosting bitcoin on the market radar: the “halving”, i.e. the reduction by half of the reward for bitcoin miners, those who allow the validation of transactions and the creation of cryptocurrency.

It occurs approximately every four years and the next one is expected in April, sparking “enthusiasm” among investors, notes Matthew Weller of City Index.

The operation is made necessary by the fact that the creator of bitcoin, a certain Satoshi Nakamoto whose real identity is not known, has limited the maximum number of bitcoins in the world to 21 million.