Bitcoin (BTC-USD) could be on the path to recovery after briefly rising above $50,000 on Monday, the first time it's sat at that benchmark since late 2021. Yahoo Finance’s Rachelle Akuffo and Brad Smith take a closer look at the cryptocurrency as spot bitcoin ETFs have brought enthusiasm back to the crypto space.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Eyek Ntekim

Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And speaking of moves, Bitcoin price is hovering near $50,000 after hitting the mark earlier in the trading week, a benchmark value the cryptocurrency hasn't sat at since late 2021. And it was interesting because a lot of people thought they were going to see this big swing on spot Bitcoin ETFs, which they did see some excitement leading up to it.

But then you also saw Bitcoin prices recently moving up in tandem with some of the concerns that came up with regional banks over the past five to seven days as well. So, I'm not sure this is so much of a spot Bitcoin ETF sort of fueled enthusiasm versus people sort of seeing Bitcoin as a good alternative if there is some uncertainty still to be worked out in some of these regional banks.

BRAD SMITH: I'll just tell you what. I mean, for the past year and the performance that we've seen with Bitcoin up 125% over the past 52 weeks. If you take that out to perhaps the beginning of 2023, you're far beyond that. And so ultimately, the larger question going forward from here as we're staring down the halving event that's expected in April, you're also looking at technicals that look pretty strong right now off of the larger kind of trend that has seen some higher highs along the way in this broader trend line here.

And I think going forward, the bulls are going to continue to pile into Bitcoin right now. You can pretty much expect that, especially with any dip. And that buy-on-the-dip fervor, that certainly does extend into Bitcoin. The winter is well behind us. And so now, Bitcoin summer or whatever that looks like, hot bit summer, hot Bitcoin summer, hot coin summer, whatever you're calling it, once we get into June, it'll be interesting to see what this thing trades at.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: That's right. And as you mentioned, with more institutional investors at play, perhaps we won't see as much volatility as when we saw retail investors dominating that space.