After a streak of volatility over the past few days, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reclaimed the 24,000 mark on Wednesday night, rising to levels last seen mid-August last year.

Bitcoin’s bullish surge in January has helped the Nasdaq Crypto Index to register its third-highest monthly gain, with a 38% surge. The cryptocurrency market started the year on a bullish note, defying major bearish market outlooks. Bitcoin (BTC) and a number of altcoins touched new multi-month highs as inflation cooled off. 

Bitcoin (BTC) and Wall Street's benchmark equity index, the S&P 500, are on the verge of hitting an easy-to-track bullish technical signal, the golden cross, that often makes traders giddy with delight.

Crypto exchange Bittrex and crypto analytics company Chainalysis announced layoffs in the first days of February, while Bitcoin (BTC) steadily continues on its increasing trajectory.

In a sign of the changing market sentiments, the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI) booked monthly returns of 37.2% in January — the third-highest monthly return since NCI’s inception in May 2020.

Bitcoin rose above US$24,000 for the first time since mid-August in Thursday morning trading in Asia before sliding back slightly. It gained along with Ether and most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points overnight and Fed chair Jerome Powell said the “disinflationary process” has started in the economy. U.S. equities gained on the comments, also encouraged by a better-than-expected growth forecast at social media platform Meta Platforms Inc. Dogecoin was the only token in the top 10 to fall, but it held gains for the week. The crypto market cap rose 3.7% to US$1.09 trillion, with total trading volume up 28.9% to US$60.8 billion. (forkast)

People invested their stimulus checks in crypto. Was that a good idea?

Bitcoin, digital wallets, public blockchains and smart contract networks accounted for four of the 14 "big ideas" for 2023 featured in a report released on Jan. 31 by Ark Invest that also named themes including artificial intelligence, digital consumers, precision therapies and molecular diagnostics.   

Jim Cramer, the host of Mad money on CNBC, and anchor on CNBC’s Squawk box, has been vocal about his bearish stance on Bitcoin. 

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury has added two cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to a Russian sanctions evasion network as part of its list of Specially Designated Nationals.