Bitcoin has finally broken out of a window it has been trading within since the start of the year, rising to a three-month price high on Tuesday.

An overnight surge took BTC above $48,000 for the first time since early January, building on a price rally that has seen it rise more than $10,000 over the last two weeks. It has since settled slightly and is back just below $48,000 on Wednesday.

The latest gains were mirrored among other leading cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL), pushing the overall crypto market above $2 trillion.

Analysts have attributed the positive movements to various bullish trends that have been forming throughout March, including a dwindling supply of bitcoin on crypto exchanges.

There have also been rumours that other countries may be making moves to follow El Salvador by adopting bitcoin as a legal form of tender.

You can follow all the latest news, analysis and expert price predictions in our live blog below.

Key points

• Crypto market rises above $2 trillion

Bitcoin represents ‘great exodus of capital'

10:41 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Michael Saylor, who heads the largest corporate bitcoin investor MicroStrategy, has said bitcoin represents “the great exodus of capital from analog assets in physical space to digital assets in cyberspace”.

Software firm MicroStrategy announced another massive BTC investment yesterday, borrowing against the bitcoin it already owns to buy another $205 million worth of the cryptocurrency.

You can watch his full comments here:

Bitcoin, ether prices stall, solana surges

04:10 , Vishwam Sankaran

Bitcoin’s price remains unchanged compared to its value a day earlier at about $47,200.

Ethereum has marginally increased in value by about 1 per cent in the last 24 hours.

The values of other top cryptocurrencies, including cardano and terra remain unchanged in the last day.

However, solana and avalanche have surged by 7 to 9 per cent in the last 24 hours.

The overall crypto market has grown by over 1 per cent in the last day and is valued at $2.16 trillion.

Bitcoin price rally stalls

Wednesday 30 March 2022 13:30 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Bitcoin’s recent good run looks to be on hold, stalling just below $48,000.

One reason for the slight dip, according to GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou, is the $625 million hack of the blockchain game Axie Infinity. Here’s what he has to say:

“The dip has been bought up as bitcoin remains above $47,000, showing great strength amongst the news of the hack. One factor for this could be the positive news of Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, obtaining a $205 million loan from Silvergate Bank, which is collateralised by bitcoin, in order to buy more bitcoin. The buy pressure of MicroStrategy and Luna Foundation Guard is understandably contributing to a strong uptrend in the short term.”

MicroStrategy buys more bitcoin with $205m loan

Wednesday 30 March 2022 08:26 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Software firm MicroStrategy is already all-in on bitcoin, with holdings of more than $5 billion arguably making it more a crypto company than a computer company.

Not satisfied with being the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, CEO Michael Saylor has announced another $205 million bitcoin purchase.

What makes this feat even more remarkable is that the bitcoin was paid for through a bitcoin collateralised loan. This means Saylor is borrowing against the bitcoin MicroStrategy already owns in order to buy more bitcoin. Bold strategy.

Bitcoin, altcoin prices drop after week of gains

Wednesday 30 March 2022 03:21 , Vishwam Sankaran

Bitcoin has dropped in value by about 1 per cent in the last day after a week of gains that took its price close to $48,000.

The leading cryptocurrency is currently valued at about $47,000, and has dropped by over 2 per cent in the last 10 hours.

Ethereum has seen its price drop by about 1 per cent in the last 24 hours.

Other top cryptocurrencies, including solana, cardano, and polkadot have also dropped in value by 1 to 2 per cent in the last day.

Memecoins dogecoin and its spinoff shiba inu have dropped in value by 2 to 3 per cent over the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, terra has risen by over 8 per cent in the last 24 hours, and by more than 15 per cent in the last week.

The overall crypto market has dropped in value by about 1 per cent and is valued at $2.11 trillion.

Bitcoin mining energy could be slashed by ‘99%’

Tuesday 29 March 2022 14:36 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Environmentalists have launched a campaign to encourage the crypto industry to change bitcoin’s underlying code in order to reduce its considerable electricity consumption.

Change the Code Note the Climate claims that switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake would slash bitcoin’s energy requirements by 99 per cent - but it’s not a simple switch. It would require consensus among bitcoin miners and industry figures in order to happen, which has historically been extremely difficult (just look at bitcoin cash).

You can read the full story here.

Bitcoin mining campaign aims to reduce energy consumption by 99%

Bitcoin finally turns positive in 2022

Tuesday 29 March 2022 09:33 , Anthony Cuthbertson

It’s been a rocky first quarter for bitcoin but finally it’s back above the level that it started the year at.

It’s now up nearly $15,000 from the lows it saw in January, though still remains roughly $20,000 away from the all-time high it experienced in November.

Bitcoin price hits 2022 record

Tuesday 29 March 2022 07:28 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Bitcoin peaked above $48,000 overnight, reaching above its 2022 price record.

It is the first time it has been this high since 31 December 2021, with the latest rally providing renewed optimism that a longer term bull market could be forming.

There are several factors driving the positive market movement, including Goldman Sachs becoming the first big US bank to trade BTC over the counter, as well as the Terra network (LUNA) stockpiling bitcoin for a $10 billion reserve for its TUSD stablecoin.

Bitcoin, altcoins continue to grow

Tuesday 29 March 2022 02:57 , Vishwam Sankaran

Bitcoin continues to grow for the seventh consecutive day, rising in value by over 15 per cent in the last week.

The leading cryptocurrency has grown by over 1.5 per cent in the last day and is valued at about $47,500.

Ethereum has also grown in value by about 3 per cent in the last 24 hours, and by over 15 per cent in the last week.

Other top cryptocurrencies, including solana, cardano, and avalanche have also surged by over 3 per cent in the last day.

In the last 7 days, solana has grown in value by over 20 per cent, and cardano by over 30 per cent.

Memcoin dogecoin has seen a price surge of over 20 per cent in the last 7 days with its value marginally increasing in the last 24 hours.

Its spinoff shiba inu has grown by over 6 per cent in the last day and by nearly 20 per cent in the last week.

The chart looks green with the overall crypto market showing continued signs of growth, rising in value by about 2 per cent in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin wallet suddenly activates after 10 years

Monday 28 March 2022 19:33 , Anthony Cuthbertson

A Satoshi-era bitcoin wallet has suddenly shown signs of life for the first time in a decade.

The holdings of 500BTC have increased by nearly 2 million per cent since they were last active, rising from around $250 to more than $23m.

You can read the full story here.

Bitcoin from Satoshi-era wallet suddenly activates after 11 years

Bitcoin price closes in on 2022 record

Monday 28 March 2022 15:08 , Anthony Cuthbertson

After just breaking above $47,500, bitcoin is now just a couple of hundred dollars away from its 2022 record, which it saw in the first days of January.

This breakout could be a bullish indication for further gains, according to crypto market commentator and author Glen Goodman, as it could spell the end to a “head and shoulders” pattern that had been forming.

“The h&s failure still isn’t confirmed until we’re past the second shoulder again, but it’s looking more promising now,” he tweeted.

Bitcoin price breaks through ‘key resistance level’

Monday 28 March 2022 13:15 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Since early January bitcoin had been stuck trading between a relatively narrow price window of between $34,000 and $44,000, so it’s a big move today to finally break out of it.

We’ve heard from Simon Peters, a market analyst at the online trading platform eToro, to hear his thoughts on the latest developments:

Simon Peters, eToro

Bitcoin price headed for $100k?

Monday 28 March 2022 10:20 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Popular crypto market analyst PlanB, who gained over 1 million followers on Twitter last year on the strength of his Stock-to-Flow (S2F) price prediction model, has suggested that the latest rally could be the one that finally fulfils the model.

According to one version of the pseudonymous Dutch analyst’s S2F model, BTC was meant to hit six figures before the end of last year before plateauing and consolidating. Instead it peaked at close to $69,000 in November before crashing all the way back down towards $30,000. After two previous record-breaking rallies, will it be third time lucky?

Bitcoin price gains push crypto market above $2 trillion

Monday 28 March 2022 10:08 , Anthony Cuthbertson

The latest price gains for bitcoin have helped push the overall crypto market above $2 trillion for the first time since early February.

It still remains a way off the all-time high of close to $3 trillion that it reached last November, but it is now up more than $500 billion in less than two months and appears to still be climbing.

The only one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies not to contribute to the recent rally is Terra (LUNA), which saw a modest loss of just over 1 per cent over the last week.

Hello and welcome...

Monday 28 March 2022 09:51 , Anthony Cuthbertson

to The Independent’s live coverage of the crypto market.

With leading cryptocurrencies currently surging in price, we’ll be bringing you all the latest news, analysis and expert price predictions for BTC, Ethereum (ETH) and other leading cryptocurrencies.