Bitcoin’s recent price performance has turned many heads in the cryptocurrency market this year. The asset’s bullish price movement has elicited notable reactions from John Reed Stark, the former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Internet Enforcement.

Like many other key figures, Reed has taken to Twitter to disclose what he believes is a main factor behind the recent upsurge in Bitcoin’s price.

“Bitcoin’s price is rising for one reason: Market Manipulation. A recent Forbes analysis of 157 crypto exchanges found that 51% of daily bitcoin trading volume being reported was likely bogus (and that was the tip of the iceberg).” Reed asserted in a recent tweet.

His tweets echo the sentiments of David Gerard, a journalist and author, who, in previous times, have postulated bearish viewpoints on digital currencies and blockchains.

Gerard explains that the reason for Bitcoin’s rise to $20,000 is not tied to any “macroeconomic actions, regulatory announcements or the strength of the dollar.”

He maintains that market manipulation is at play, pointing to the recent news of Gemini and Genesis being sued by the SEC, as some of the bearish events that lead him to believe that price pumps are usually “bad news for major players.”

Bitcoin taps $21,000; where’s the big bull headed next? 

It bears mentioning that a lot of key figures are rather bullish on Bitcoin and the majority of cryptocurrencies than they are bearish.  

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong is one of the notable figures predicting that Bitcoin is heading towards $25,000 or $30,000 in the next 45 days, although he believes the asset might hover between $20,000 to $25,000 for most of 2023.

Similarly, PlanB, the creator of the Bitcoin S2F model, is also eyeing Bitcoin at $32,000 in 2024. He expects that price to triple and reach $100,000 during the bull run in 2025.

Meanwhile, at press time, Bitcoin is valued at a price of  $21,212. The asset managed to sustain gains of over 20% throughout the last week.

However, traders seem convinced that the crypto market is nearing the top. As Santiment, the leading market intelligence platform explained in a recent tweet;

“Are crypto markets seeing a top? Traders are behaving like they believe so, taking this opportunity to profit while given the chance. Bitcoin  is seeing its highest profit tx ratio since Feb, 2021. For Ethereum, it’s the highest since Oct, 2021.”