First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Seen Topping $50K This Weekend

Bitcoin
(BTC)
rose
for
a
fifth
day,
surpassing
the
$47,000
mark
early
Friday
as
the


CoinDesk
20
Index

(CD20),
a
gauge
of
the
biggest
cryptocurrencies,
added
4%.
The
largest
crypto
by
market
cap
reached
a
one-month
high
as
East
Asia
ushered
in
its
biggest
festival
of
the
year,
the
Chinese
new
year
of
the
dragon,

celebrating
the
start
of
what’s
believed
to
be
one
of
the
luckiest
periods
according
to
the
Chinese
Zodiac.
In
Mandarin
Chinese,
the
word
for
dragon
is
pronounced
similarly
to
“long,”
boosting
memetic
value
among
crypto
traders.
Some
analysts

predict
the
cryptocurrency
will
rise
to
$50,000
over
the
weekend.

Others
have
said
it
might
even
reach
$53,000-$55,000
before
the
cryptocurrency’s
halving
in
April.

Cryptocurrency-related
publicly
traded
companies


showed

healthy
gains
in
pre-market
trading
on
Friday
as
bitcoin
extended
its
rally.
Bitcoin
miner

CleanSpark
(CLSK)
led
the
way,
climbing
almost
20%
as
of
10:15
UTC.
The
company

reported
fiscal
first-quarter
profit
of
$25.9
million
on
Thursday
compared
with
a
$29
million
loss
the
year
before.
Riot
Platforms
(RIOT)
and
Marathon
Digital
Holdings
(MARA)
also
rallied,
adding
7%
and
8%
respectively.
Mining
stocks
are
a
recommended
entry
point
for
bitcoin
exposure
ahead
of
the
forthcoming
halving,
in
which
the
reward
miners
earn
for
new
coins
is
cut
by
50%,
broker
Bernstein
said.
The
firm
picked
CLSK
and
RIOT
as
its
preferred
stocks
in
a
research
report
on
Thursday.

Banking
giant
JPMorgan’s
survey


found

that
78%
of
institutional
traders
aren’t
planning
to
trade
cryptocurrencies
in
the
next
five
years,
and
just
a
small
group
sees
blockchain/distributed
ledger
technology
(DLT)
as
the
most
influential
technology
in
shaping
the
future
of
trading
over
the
next
three
years.
The
bank
interviewed
over
4,000
institutional
traders
for
its

2024
e-Trading
annual
survey,
which
covers
upcoming
trends
and
hot
topics
in
the
trading
sector.
The
participants
seemed
less
enthusiastic
about
blockchain
technology
in
2024
than
in
the
previous
two
years.