Bitcoin rose to its highest level in 18 months as expectations grew that exchange-traded funds would be approved to invest in the cryptocurrency market's largest token by market capitalization.
Bitcoin rose as much as 4% above $36,000 in the past 24 hours, the highest level since May 2022. Other small cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, rose as much as 2.5%, while Solana gained nearly 1.7% of its value. .
A short window of at least eight days opened Thursday for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to theoretically issue orders approving ETFs, according to a note written by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Seyphart and Eric Balchunas. Even if approvals don't arrive this month, we still believe there is a 90% chance of approval by January 10, they wrote.
Optimism over potential approval by the regulator, after more than a decade of consultation, has seen Bitcoin rise more than 120% this year, and Caroline Morrone, co-founder of digital asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets, sees continued interest in bets on a further rise for Bitcoin.
While Josh Gilbert, market analyst at trading and investment company eToro, said: The potential approval of ETFs is at the top of a growing list of catalysts supporting digital assets, which gives the current rally more support.
Besides stimulating ETFs, bets that the US Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates for now and a Bitcoin halving event next year are also fueling the rally, Gilbert added.
A new group of investors
Bitcoin's gains this year have been impressive, with some attributing that to the widely anticipated approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Matt Hogan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, said ETFs will play an important role in opening up cryptocurrency investments to a wider range of investors. , especially financial advisors who manage a significant portion of the wealth in the United States.
He said that currently, cryptocurrencies are bought by 20% of retail investors, but 80% of the wealth in America is controlled by advisors and financial institutions, who need an ETF to access cryptocurrencies.
He explained: There is a whole new audience for Bitcoin, compared to the launch of gold ETFs in the early 2000s.
He continued: The approval of a spot gold ETF in 2004 led to eight or nine consecutive years of increases in gold prices.
Hogan said BlackRock's application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in June had a significant psychological impact on the market, dissipating residual negative sentiment from the FTX collapse, which he refers to as the ghosts of Sam Bankman Fried.
He said: When BlackRock applied for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, and CEO Larry Fink spoke on Fox Business News about Bitcoin overtaking other currencies, the concerns went away.
Cryptocurrencies at 10:40 AM Saudi time
The combined market value of the crypto market during these moments of today’s trading amounted to approximately $1.38 trillion. The trading volume reached about $53.52 billion, according to Investing Saudi Arabia data.
Bitcoin rose during the last 24 hours to the levels of $36,557, by 4.2%, while recording weekly gains of 4%. Its market value now stands at $717 billion.
While Ethereum, which is the largest digital currency by market value after Bitcoin, rose by about 2.5% during the last 24 hours, to reach $1,913, with weekly gains of 4.8%, and a market value of about $231 billion.
The price of Binance Coin BNB/USD rose by 1.35% to record $248.
While Ripple gained approximately 3.6% of its value, recording $0.69556, and jumped by 15.7% in the last 7 days.
Solana rose by 1.7% in the last 24 hours to $43,890, and is rising by 2.8% in the last 7 days.
Cardano witnessed a rise to $0.3653, by 4%, while it rose in the last 7 days by 20%.
At the same time, Dogecoin rose to the level of $0.076009, by 4.1%.
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