Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and other major cryptocurrencies shot up in Wednesday afternoon trading as troubles at First Republic Bank ( FRC ) sparked fresh concerns about the traditional banking sector. Snapping its five-day losing streak, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) surged 8.7% to $29.77K as of shortly before 1:00 p.m. ET, eyeing the $30K resistance zone that the token has had a tough time fully breaking out of throughout much of April. Ethereum ( ETH-USD ), the world's largest altcoin, also jumped 6.8% to $1.94K, and cardano ( ADA-USD ) +8.4% , polygon ( MATIC-USD ) +8.5% and solana ( SOL-USD ) +7.8% . The outsized upswings occurred less than a day after struggling regional lender First Republic ( FRC ) said it l ost more than $70B in deposits during the first quarter, bringing total deposits to $104.5B at March 31. It's now fighting to survive as the embattled bank seeks to convince other banks to buy $50B-$100B of its long-dated and mortgage securities in an effort to shore up its balance sheet. Keep in mind that cryptos rallied last month perhaps as market participants sought alternative assets like bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and gold ( XAUUSD:CUR ) in the wake of three U.S. bank failures. Bitcoin has long been branded as a safe haven asset -- digital gold -- but it's still down some 60% from its November 2021 record high as many central banks across the globe hiked interest rates aggressively to squash persistently high inflation. Didar Bekbauov, founder and CEO of bitcoin group mining company Xive, said the banking jitters that emerged last month spurred a rally in bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), as the turmoil "left investors quite skeptical of the traditional financial escape, thus leaving many to go all out on BTC." He also predicted that BTC's upcoming halving event -- the mechanism whereby the reward for mining a new block on the blockchain is cut in half after every 210,000 blocks produced -- could reach $35K by the end of Q2, calling it "a major fundamental." Earlier this week, Piper Sandler analyst Geoff Kendrick contended that bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) price could reach $100K by the end of 2024, in part because the stresses in the banking sector help to "re-establish BTC’s core use case as a decentralised, trustless and scarce digital asset." Crypto's bullish price action pulled up crypto-exposed stocks. Among the biggest winners include MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) +9.6% , BIT Mining ( BTCM ) +15% , Marathon Digital ( MARA ) +15.9% , CleanSpark ( CLSK ) +15.4% and Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) +9.8% . More on Bitcoin Sell Bitcoin In May And Go Away (Until It Crosses This Moving Average) Bitcoin could rise to $35K by the end of Q2, says Mercuryo's chief product officer
