Bitcoin Surges 72% in Q1... Largest Increase in 2 Years

40% Surge in the Last 3 Weeks
"SVB Collapse Acts as an Opportunity for Virtual Assets"

Bitcoin recorded a rise of over 70% in the first quarter of this year. This is a rebound just three months after a decline of more than 60% throughout last year.

According to Bloomberg News on the 1st (local time), Bitcoin, which was trading in the mid-$16,000 range (20.96 million KRW) at the end of last year, was trading around $28,000 (36.68 million KRW) on the last day of March.

It rose 72% over three months, marking the largest quarterly increase in two years since the 104% surge in the first quarter of 2021.

During the same period, this far exceeded the gains in the New York stock market, where the Dow Jones rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 rose 7.0%, and the Nasdaq rose 16.8%.

Bitcoin plunged 64% last year due to the collapse of Korean virtual assets Luna and its sister stablecoin Terra USD, as well as the downfall of FT, one of the world's top three virtual asset exchanges.

There are various analyses regarding the reasons behind Bitcoin's significant rebound.

Noel Atchison, author of the newsletter "Crypto is Macro Now," said, "The rebound is not surprising at all to cryptocurrency market observers," adding, "Bitcoin bottomed out in November last year, and for long-term investors, it was only a matter of time before entering the market."

There is also analysis that the collapse of traditional banks such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) actually created opportunities for virtual assets.

Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at U.S. asset management firm VanEck, explained, "Bitcoin maintained resilience during a time of widespread skepticism toward bank deposits and central bank bailouts, thanks to legitimate fundamental improvements and its unique role as an anonymous asset."

St?phane Ouellette, co-founder of virtual asset platform FRNT Financial, also said, "After the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank, Bitcoin was spotlighted as an alternative banking solution, and all virtual assets, including Bitcoin, recorded unexpected gains."

Bloomberg News reported that Bitcoin has risen 40% in the past three weeks since the SVB incident actually occurred.