Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies rose again Tuesday as anticipation continued to build that U.S. regulators will soon approve the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund—a long-awaited catalyst that could provide cryptos with a major boost.
The price of Bitcoin has gained 4% over the past 24 hours to above $46,800, briefly breaching the $47,000 level on Monday for the first time since March 2022. Bitcoin—which had a blowout 2023—already has surged 10% so far this year amid expectations that the Securities and Exchange Commission will approve the first spot Bitcoin ETF, with a decision on a number of such funds likely this week.
“Bitcoin remains the talk of the town, with the cryptocurrency breaching $47,000 yesterday on speculation that we will finally see the SEC approve a raft of spot Bitcoin ETF products as early as tomorrow,” said Joshua Mahony, an analyst at broker Scope Markets. “With each applicant having announced the fees associated with their ETF, the signals are very clearly pointing towards approval from the regulator.”
Indeed, there was a flurry of activity on Monday from prospective ETF issuers, including pricing plans for funds that may suggest jockeying ahead of regulatory approval. The hope that the SEC will allow spot Bitcoin ETFs to trade has been a key force propelling cryptos higher since last summer, with bulls seeing approval as likely to usher in a fresh wave of investor interest in tokens.
“The hope for Bitcoin enthusiasts is that this move will finally take crypto into the mainstream, allowing fund managers and more traditional market participants the ability to allocate a percent of their portfolio to this fast-moving asset,” said Mahony.
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—was down less than 1% at $2,250. Smaller tokens, or altcoins, were also lower, with
Cardano
and
Polygon
down 2% and 3%, respectively. Memecoins were more mixed, with
Dogecoin
down 2% and
Shiba Inu
up 1%.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
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