- The total cryptocurrency market cap touched $2 trillion for the first time since April 2022.
- Bitcoin surged to $51,600, while ether climbed to $2,740.
- The total crypto market cap has gained 4.61% in the last 24 hours.
The prospect of easing monetary policy and enthusiasm for spot bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming bitcoin halving event have pushed the total cryptocurrency market cap to $2 trillion for the first time since April 2022.
Over the last 24 hours, rallies across the major tokens have pushed that figure about 4.6% higher.
Bitcoin has gained 6.4% to hit $51,620 and regain its own $1 trillion market cap. The world's largest token by market cap hasn't reached that level since December 2021, and so far this year it's gained more than 21%.
Meanwhile, ether, the second-largest token, has climbed about 5% to reach $2,740 for the first time since May 2022.
Analytics firm CoinShares reported Monday that digital asset investment products saw inflows of $1.1 billion last week, which brought year-to-date flows to $2.7 billion. Spot bitcoin ETFs, the data showed, took in the majority of those inflows.
Analysts said bitcoin's price appreciation helped buoy sentiment for ether and Cardano, while Avalanche and Polygon also saw smaller inflows.
Spot bitcoin ETFs are seeing higher demand from investors after a muted response in the weeks immediately following regulators' approval of the products.
The increase in demand comes a few months ahead of what's known as the bitcoin halving event, which will cut the reward for bitcoin miners in half. MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor, a longtime bitcoin bull, said in an interview with CNBC on Monday that the halving will result in strong gains for current holders of the token. Previous halving events have been followed by all-time highs in the next 12 months.
"Now people are beginning to realize that there's 10x as much demand for bitcoin coming in through these ETFs as there is supply coming from the natural sellers who are the miners," Saylor said.