Why is Bitcoin Skyrocketing? The Cryptocurrency Hits 2023 Record High
Bitcoin recently saw a big price increase. The cryptocurrency reached $35,150, making it the highest price in 2023. Experts say this jump is partly because people think a new Bitcoin ETF will soon launch in the U.S. Right now, the price of Bitcoin is $34,702, up 13.38% in just one day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Since the start of this year, Bitcoin's value has nearly doubled. However, it's still much lower than its all-time high. That was $69,000 back in 2021. People are hopeful that a U.S.-based Bitcoin ETF could bring a lot of money into the market. NYDIG, a finance company, thinks it could be as much as $150 billion.
Lucas Josa, a market analyst, adds more information. He works for Mynt, which is part of BTG Pactual, a financial services company. Josa says the price went above $32,000 when news came out about a possible ETF from BlackRock. BlackRock is a big deal because it's the world's largest manager of assets like stocks and bonds.
Source
🇪🇺🛢 Another Critical Oil Waterway Is About to Close
With apologies to Oscar Wilde, to lose one critical waterway may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. Of course, we’re long past carelessness and are now barreling toward disaster, with three already lost (the Strait of Hormuz, the Black Sea ports and the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb) and a fourth poised to join their ranks: the mighty Rhine.
The river, which stretches across northwest Europe, doesn’t have the geopolitical pedigree of some of the other waterways in the headlines lately. But it’s similarly essential, acting as a conveyor belt that connects chemical plants, oil refineries, steel foundries, coal-fired power stations and other manufacturing sites across Switzerland, Germany and France with the Dutch ports. BASF SE, the German chemical behemoth, describes its importance in hyperbolic terms: “Without the Rhine, industrial production in western Europe would collapse.”
The river is one of ...
⚡️🇺🇸🇮🇷 US CENTCOM:
At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness.
@wfwitness