Bitcoin Retakes $44K Amid Broad Crypto Rally

Bitcoin (BTC) is up more than 3% over the last 24 hours, climbing to a three-week high of $44,200 earlier on Wednesday before modestly pulling back to $44,000.

• Helping the mood for the bulls was that Pavel Zavalny, chairman of Russia’s congressional energy committee, earlier Thursday suggested bitcoin could work as the country considers hard currency alternatives for oil sales given the sanctions imposed on Russian companies by the West.
• An analyst from Split Capital took note of not just the price spike following those comments, but a big jump in bitcoin open interest.
• U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock said bitcoin’s price strength was notable given a 25% increase in oil prices over the past week. Analysts at the firm believe the oil run needs to cool for bitcoin to continue with gains.
• GlobalBlock also said that the accumulation of bitcoin by large investors bodes well for the cryptocurrency. That includes Luna Foundation Guard’s plan to purchase $3 billion of bitcoin in the short term and $10 billion long term.
• That’s a lot of buy pressure, GlobalBlock said, explaining that it expects seller exhaustion and a run above $45,000 as long as oil prices don’t reach new highs.
• Elsewhere in the crypto market, ether (ETH) is up 4% to $3,111, its highest level since Feb. 16, while cardano (ADA) and solana (SOL) are both up by about 10%.
• Also read: Cardano’s ADA Up Nearly 10% as Coinbase Adds Staking Feature