Bitcoin (COIN: $BTC) Zooms Past $70K Amid Doubts About Crypto Decentralization As Halving Nears

Bitcoin (COIN: $BTC) began rising late on Friday after stumbling following a new all-time high above $70K on Friday morning.

Bitcoin Rises About $70K

Since Friday evening, Bitcoin has gained 4.99% and is now at $71,711.24 as of Monday, March 11, 2024. For the past few weeks, Bitcoin has been rallying, and on Friday, it rose about the $70K mark for the first time in history.

Year-to-date, BTC is up 62.36%, driven by the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETFs in mid-January this year and the upcoming BTC halving event.

The Bitcoin Halving Event

The Bitcoin blockchain is designed to cut mining rewards by half every 210,000 blocks, which occurs around every four years. Looking at historical data, Bitcoin tends to reach a new all-time high after each halving event.

The BTC pump in 2024 began earlier than anticipated, with the main catalyst being the SEC’s approval of Bitcoin ETFs. It has led to a flood of institutional money, with billions flowing into the crypto space weeks after the approval. The rally is likely to continue after the halving event.

During the last halving event, the price of BTC shot up from around $9,000 to over $60,000 in just 12 months. Some financial analysts are confident this trend will repeat in 2024. However, JP Morgan’s analysts have warned that BTC could fall to as low as $42K due to increased mining difficulty.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Casts Doubt on Crypto’s Decentralization

During a Yahoo Finance interview, the SEC chair, Gary Gensler stated that fraud remained a major challenge in the crypto industry. He stated that the industry was “rife with fraud and abuse.”

Gensler pointed to the bankruptcies declared by crypto companies in 2022 and 2023, noting the investors did not receive proper disclosures from the intermediaries.

In the interview, he cast doubt on how decentralized crypto was, pointing out that intermediaries, who did not provide proper disclosures, held a lot of power in the sector. According to Gensler, the actions of these intermediaries would never be allowed on the NYSE.

The SEC chair also mentioned that thus far, they had received 10 applications for Spot Ether Exchange Traded Products (ETPs). Gensler said he would not comment on the filings as he did not want to “prejudge any one filing.”

BTC Price Forecast

Bitcoin is currently above $70K, and the trend appears to be holding after a minor pullback. However, analysts believe that short-term support is around $65K.

Some analysts forecast that BTC could pull back to $60K, with an advance to $80K unlikely. However, if there is a rise in ETF inflows this week, the price could rise to $80K. In such a scenario, the psychological resistance point could be around $75K.

Is Bitcoin Worth Buying?

BTC, like all other cryptocurrencies, is highly volatile. However, since its inception in 2009, the trend has been generally upward. From a price of less than $100 in 2010 to the current price of over $70K, Bitcoin has had some of the highest returns of all investment products in those 14 years.

The anticipated Bitcoin halving event and the continued rise in institutional inflows into ETFs could create a unique supply-demand dynamic that could propel the price higher before the end of 2024. Consequently, while BTC has already hit a new ATH and rising, it is unlikely to have peaked.

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