Bitcoin threatens price rally after blowing past $47k

Bitcoin is looking rambunctious after a cheeky price rally

article-image

Eugenia Porechenskaya/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Bitcoin nearly hit $48,000 on Friday morning to almost double in price over the past year.

BTC was again at its highest point since just after spot ETFs opened on US exchanges about one month ago, which represented two-year highs.

The top crypto briefly skirted $49,000 on Jan. 11 before retracing more than 20% over the following fortnight.

Bitcoin’s market cap is almost $900 billion, pushing the paper value of all cryptocurrencies past $1.87 trillion, per CoinGecko. At time of writing, bitcoin was back around $47,000. 

Read more: Let’s pour one out for the first-day spot bitcoin ETF investors

Crypto, at least right now, is at its highest valuation since May 2022, when Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin went kaput and dragged digital assets into their longest bear market on record, by at least one metric.

Crypto’s total market value is still just over half what it was during its November 2021 record. 

Bitcoin briefly traded for $69,000 at the time, so it needs a further 45% rally to retest all-time highs.

Analysts have suggested that bitcoin’s price was being kept down by miners selling parts of their treasuries, perhaps bolstering their balance sheets before the halving slashes block rewards in late April.

The billions of dollars in bitcoin flowing out of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) since spot ETFs launched were also suspected to have played a role in lower prices. 

Those outflows have largely been stemmed of late and the ETFs overall are again net buyers of bitcoin. 

Without counting GBTC, funds from BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise and others now hold more than $8 billion in bitcoin. GBTC meanwhile contains $20 billion in bitcoin, down from about $29 billion at the end of last year.

Genesis, the crypto lender which went bankrupt last year, is however posturing to soon offload more than $1.3 billion in GBTC stock.

Markets outside of crypto are also fired up. Benchmark indexes including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are flirting with records, having jumped more than 5% and 7% respectively year to date.

Bitcoin has now easily outperformed major tech stocks Microsoft and Apple over the past year, while ether is close to overtaking the former thanks to its own rally alongside BTC.

Solana has them all beat with more than 350% gains, largely due to an ongoing recovery post-Sam Bankman-Fried.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (1).jpg

Research

As AI supercharges surveillance, privacy becomes a prerequisite and the winning stack will combine confidentiality with selective disclosure. Zcash’s Tachyon, composable standards on Ethereum/Solana, and compliance-aware pools aim to make private rails the new norm.

article-image

Pipe’s testnet has delivered 60+ PB of data across ~290,000 Point of Presence (PoP) nodes

article-image

375ai will hold TGE at the end of the month, CEO Harry Dewhirst told Blockworks

article-image

Block’s subsidiary adds direct Bitcoin integration and AI-powered ordering tools for small businesses seeking streamlined transactions

by Blockworks /
article-image

The deal integrates Dinero’s staking suite into Plume’s real-world asset platform as it gains SEC transfer agent status

by Blockworks /
article-image

The state’s decision opens staking access to New Yorkers, signaling a regulatory shift toward broader crypto participation

by Blockworks /
article-image

The startup says it aims to rival Stripe and Worldpay by using stablecoins to speed merchant settlements from days to seconds

by Blockworks /