Bitcoin broke the $57,000 level for the first time since December 2021

Bitcoin, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, broke the $56,000 level yesterday, a level not reached since December 2021, after a rise of more than 10% in two days, according to CNBC and CoinMarketCap.

The development comes as software and crypto investment firm MicroStrategy reported the purchase of around 3,000 Bitcoins for $155 million. MicroStrategy, an American company based in Virginia, is the public company with the largest holding of Bitcoin, with reports from the beginning of this month indicating about 190,000 cryptocurrencies, equivalent to more than 10.5 billion dollars, writes CNBC.

Greta Yuan, head of research at digital asset platform VDX, believes the market "has been buoyed by crypto bulls like MicroStrategy, as well as a new record of inflows into Bitcoin ETFs."

In stock market parlance, a bull represents an investor or trader who has a positive outlook for a particular asset and therefore buys. Overall, the entire crypto market has risen in recent days, with Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, breaking above the $3,200 level yesterday, a record not reached since spring 2022.

According to VDX's head of research, Bitcoin's growth also reflects "investor optimism, particularly in the United States," ahead of the upcoming "Bitcoin halving" set for the latter part of April, according to CNBC.

The event involves a 50% reduction in rewards for volunteer Bitcoin miners who use specialized equipment to validate transactions on the blockchain network and create new tokens. The purpose of the "halving" is to reduce the number of new units of Bitcoin released into the market, which means that the supply is reduced. Or, theoretically, a reduced supply and at least a constant demand usually leads to an increase in prices.

"As the Bitcoin halving approaches, investors are rushing to position themselves for the event. The new record volume of inflows into Bitcoin ETFs is another test of confidence for investors," added Greta Yuan, quoted by CNBC.

At 19:00 yesterday, Bitcoin was trading at $57,060, equivalent to an increase of about 34% this year.