According to CoinDesk data, Bitcoin reached $24,412 at 2.30 a.m ET on Friday, the highest level in six weeks. The cryptocurrency has since pared some of those gains and rested just above $24,000 at 6:32 a.m. ET.
Bitcoin’s rally began after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates on Wednesday. This in turn sparked a rally in US equities.
Ether was also reportedly higher on Friday.
“Overall, I think markets have reacted positively to the Fed’s comments and arguably have priced in most of the rate hikes,” Vijay Ayyar, the vice president of corporate development and international at Luno told CNBC via text message.
“There seems to be a lot of liquidity sitting on the sidelines, which is now coming in based on the last few months of consolidation/ downward pressure, that is now easing up,” he added.
After the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD, lending platform Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy and this contributed to the downward spiral of the crypto market.
Bitcoin is still down by 48% this year and remains more than 60% off its all time high of $68,990.90.