Bitcoin hits six-week high as financial titans step up crypto initiatives

By Suvashree Ghosh and Akshay Chinchalkar

Bitcoin approached $30,000 for the first time since April, buoyed by crypto initiatives involving major players from the traditional financial sector.
 

The largest digital asset rose as much as 6.1% and traded at $29,789 as of 11:26 am in New York on Wednesday, lifting the token’s rebound this year to almost 80%. Smaller coins such as Ether, Cardano and Solana also posted gains.

Crypto investors have drawn succor from the start of a digital-asset exchange, EDX Markets, backed by firms including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets and Charles Schwab Corp. Separately, BlackRock Inc. and WisdomTree Inc. have applied in quick succession to launch spot US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

 

Bitcoin “has been the standout outperformer in this move higher and feels to be dragging the rest of the crypto complex with it,” said Spencer Hallarn, derivatives trader at crypto investment firm GSR.  

Those moves dissipated some of the gloom caused by a US Securities and Exchange Commission crypto crackdown that includes lawsuits against exchange operators Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. The agency in the process designated a raft of digital tokens as unregistered securities.

“The rally is backed by institutional demand,” said Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact. “The BlackRock announcement on a Bitcoin ETF, plus EDX Markets, gave Bitcoin a boost on hopes that traditional institutions will add depth to the crypto market.”

WisdomTree is trying again for permission to start a spot US Bitcoin ETF after being rebuffed in the past. BlackRock made its filing on June 15. The SEC has resisted allowing such spot funds but BlackRock’s attempt carries the heft of the world’s largest asset manager and its track record of winning approvals.

“The BlackRock filing changed everything, that reignited the race,” said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

BlackRock’s application landed amid Grayscale Investments LLC’s legal battle with the SEC to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a physically backed ETF. The trust’s discount to net asset value has narrowed sharply on speculation BlackRock’s step could end up bolstering Grayscale’s case.

Meanwhile in Europe, Deutsche Bank AG has applied for regulatory permission to operate a custody service for digital assets.

“It is extremely unlikely it would go through the cost of doing this unless it had received sufficient expressions of interest from its large clients,” wrote Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter.

Markets are also being shaped by macro forces, including the outlook for further US monetary tightening after the Federal Reserve paused interest-rate hikes this month. Some onlookers expect a hawkish tone from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in an upcoming report to Congress.

Traders are waiting for more clarity too on the scale of expected economic stimulus in China, where the central bank recently cut borrowing costs. The potential China stimulus impact on Bitcoin isn’t “getting enough airplay,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty.

A rout in crypto last year erased $1.5 trillion and contributed to blowups such as the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange. Bitcoin remains far below its pandemic-era, liquidity-fueled 2021 peak of almost $69,000.