 "Bitcoin")
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, climbed to its highest level since May 2022 on Tuesday amid speculations that an exchange-traded bitcoin fund is imminent. According to data available on CoinMarketCap, as of 10:30 am, Bitcoin was trading at $34,408.26, over 7.7 per cent higher than that on Monday.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, also gained 14.6 per cent and was trading at $1,822 on Tuesday morning. Several other crypto tokens like Ripple, Solana and Cardano have also gained.
The total market cap has jumped 8.71 per cent to $1.27 trillion. The volume has also jumped by a whopping 70 per cent to $81.2 billion in the last 24 hours.
In the last week, Bitcoin has also re-established its market dominance with a 53.1 per cent share, followed by 17.3 per cent of Ethereum.
Several investment firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, have pending applications for bitcoin ETFs in the US, and speculation on their likely approval was fuelled by BlacRock's iShares ETF listing on the website.
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A Bitcoin ETF is expected to make buying and selling Bitcoin easier through the stock market.
A US federal appeals court on Monday also formalised a victory for Grayscale Investments LLC in its bid to create a spot Bitcoin ETF over objections from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The US SEC has so far been reluctant to allow Bitcoin ETFs as it believes they pose risks such as fraud and manipulation in the underlying market. On Monday, however, a US federal court earlier this year asked the agency to scrap its objections on Grayscale's ETF application. On Monday, it formalised the ruling.
The rally came soon after the ruling. In 2023, the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled from just over $16,000 on January 1. Shivam Thakral, chief executive officer of crypto exchange BuyUcoin added, "Traders are actively looking at digital assets in these turbulent times to safeguard their wealth from economic uncertainty."
Bitcoin, however, remains below its pandemic-era 2021 peak of almost $69,000. It has returned to the levels seen before the spectacular fall of FTX, Genesis, Luna and Three Arrows Capital. After the series of crises, Bitcoin fell as low as $15,800 last year.
