Bitcoin barrels toward historic January as crypto market jumps by $280 bn

Bitcoin is set for its best January since 2013 on bets that monetary tightening and the crypto-sector crisis are both ebbing.

The largest token is up 40 per cent since the turn of the year, a first-month gain bettered only twice before when crypto was in its infancy. Smaller coins like Solana, Axie Infinity and Decentraland have doubled in value, part of a $280 billion January climb in digital assets overall, CoinGecko figures show. Bitcoin retreated 2.5 per cent to $23,200 as of 11:37 am in London on Monday amid broad declines in risk assets. 

The rebound from last year’s deep