RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded higher on Wednesday, rising by 1.12 percent to $46,891 at 12:48 p.m. Riyadh time. Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $3,836, up by 1.83 percent, according to data from Coindesk. Other news: Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of major cryptocurrency lender Nexo, has predicted that the price of bitcoin will be $100,000 by mid-2022. "I think bitcoin is going to reach $100,000 this year, probably by the middle of it," Trenchev said in an interview with CNBC. He also explained that there are two simple reasons why he expects significant gains in the price of Bitcoin. Trenchev said that institutions are increasingly putting bitcoin in their corporate treasuries. For example, Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy has bought 124,391 bitcoin for its treasury. He also mentioned another reason to get “cheap money” to stay, which would boost cryptocurrency prices. Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel recently predicted that the Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates several times this year, more than the market expects, according to Bitcoin.com. "I quite frankly think that as soon as we see a rate hike, it’s going to be a dip into equities and the bond market and quite frankly, the last few years, we haven’t seen much political will to power through any sort of correction in the traditional financial markets,” Trenchev added. NFT At the end of November 2021, adidas revealed its excitement about the metaverse and said that the company had partnered with Coinbase and had acquired land in Sandbox. The following week, adidas announced that it had partnered with the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project, and the comic series Punks Comic. In mid-December, the company launched the Adidas Originals NFT compilation with Punks Comic, Gmoney, and BAYC. Since then the NFT collection has done well in terms of sales and made its way into the top 50 group. Adidas Originals has also seen 14,781 ether or $57.6 million in sales since the day it launched, Bitcoin.com reported.