There were marginal gains in Thursday’s cryptocurrency trading, as Bitcoin surpassed the $33,000 mark over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation – has been trading within the $30,000 and $40,000 range for several weeks, after hitting a record high close to $65,000.

However, Bitcoin is up approximately 13% in price year-to-date, despite the challenges the digital currency has faced so far in 2021.

According to CoinDesk data, Bitcoin rose 1% to $32,791, however Ether – the world’s second largest cryptocurrency – increased more than 4%. However, it was trading under the $2,000 mark at $1,992.

Furthermore, the so-called meme cryptocurrency, Dogecoin was trading up at $0.19, whereas other coins including XRP and Cardano were trading with gains of close to 1% over the past 24 hours, according to a Mint report.

In addition, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week that one of the reasons in favour of setting up a digital currency is to lessen the need for private alternatives such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, according to a report by Reuters news agency.

Elsewhere, trading volumes at crypto exchanges declined by over 40% last month, with activity hampered by a regulatory clampdown in China and lower volatility.

Spot trading volumes dropped 42.7% to $2.7 trillion, whilst derivative volumes were down 40.7% to $3.2 trillion, as per data from CryptoCompare.

Crypto investment products and funds also posted outflows at the beginning of the month as prudent sentiment continued, according to digital asset manager, CoinShares.