Bitcoin enters longest winning streak this year, rises to $40,000 amid cryptocurrency rebound

A continuing recovery in Bitcoin has put the largest cryptocurrency on course for its longest winning streak this year.

The virtual coin rose as much as 5.8% to top $40,000 and was trading at $39,900 as of 10:30 a.m. in Singapore. It’s advanced for eight straight days. Other coins including second-ranked Ether climbed, boosting the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index.

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“The current momentum is strong” and $45,000 is in sight but a conclusive break above $50,000 “will take some doing,” Pankaj Balani, chief executive officer of crypto derivatives exchange Delta Exchange, wrote in a note Tuesday.

Bitcoin remains far below its mid-April high of almost $65,000. But bulls have taken heart from recent positive comments from billionaire Elon Musk and Ark Investment Management LLC’s Cathie Wood, as well as speculation over Amazon.com Inc.’s potential involvement in the cryptocurrency sector. The token soared Monday as some traders exited leveraged bets on declines.

For now these narratives have taken the focus away from criticism of Bitcoin for the environmental cost of the energy consumed by the servers underpinning it. Regulators in China, the US and Europe are also increasingly cracking down on cryptocurrencies or considering harsher rules.

Last week, Ark Investment Management's Cathie Wood said stated that corporations should consider adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, while Twitter CEO Dorsey described it as resilient and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he wanted the currency to succeed.

• With inputs from HT Correspondent