Bitcoin has jumped above $66,000, reaching its highest level since mid-June when prices hovered above $67,000.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is currently 4.7% up in the past 24 hours as buyers hover around $66,670. Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) has climbed above $3,500 and Solana (SOL) is trading above $170 – with gains of 3% and 8% respectively.

Other altcoins are also trading positive, with BNB (BNB) up 4.9%, Dogecoin (DOGE) 4.5% and Cardano (ADA), 3%.

Bitcoin rises amid global IT outage

The bounce in Bitcoin’s price came as chatter continued around the benchmark cryptocurrency’s potential inclusion as a strategic national reserve for the US.

Key to Bitcoin’s surge to intraday highs above $66,800 was the chaos accompanying a major IT outage on Friday, with airlines grounded and banks, media, and other global companies disrupted.

The outage followed a software update by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike.

As the widespread cyber outages spotlighted Bitcoin’s strengths, the market seemed to take cues for a fresh rebound. The space also witnessed a huge surge in spot ETF volume.

Shorts feel pain as Bitcoin price surges

Meanwhile, the surge in prices had shorts obliterated. The past hour, as at 14:24 ET on Friday, has for instance seen over $6 million BTC shorts liquidated – compared to just $79,700 in long positions.

Data shows liquidations in the past four hours have seen bearish bitcoin bets worth over $12 million liquidated compared to around $1.6 million longs.

In the broader market, over $30 million shorts have been liquidated in the past four hours. This outpaces long liquidations by a wide margin as only $5.3 million in long positions have been rekt in this period.

On Thursday, analysts at Santiment had noted a surge in short positions in the bitcoin market, with BTC price hovering below $63k. Liquidations mounted as BTC price rose to above $66,800.