After a big crash last Thursday, when Bitcoin fell under $25,000 In response to the aggressive tone of the US central bank during an announced pause in interest rate hikes, the cryptocurrency crossed the $30,000 mark on Wednesday.
In one day, the price of a Bitcoin rose more than 12%, from just over $27,000 to almost $30,700, the highest mark in over a year. The cryptocurrency had previously it breached the $30,000 threshold in April to around $30,400, which was then the highest peak it had reached since falling to nearly $16,000 just a few months earlier.
The crypto market has echoed the surge, with Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, rose 8.5% to around $1,900. And unsurprisingly given Bitcoin's dominance, the total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies has risen to roughly $1.17 trillion, an increase of more than 8% from the previous day. The Bitcoin price rally is out of step with the broader stock market as the S&P 500 and the nasdaq They have dropped slightly in the last 24 hours.
The rise in the price of Bitcoin follows a recent spate of interest from institutional investors in Bitcoin and the crypto market.
“Investors are beginning to see the massive scale of institutional and professional capital that will enter the market in the coming years,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management. Fortune. "They're trying to get there early."
Shortly after the Federal Reserve's announcement last Thursday, black rock filed an application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that, if approved, would be the first of its kind in the US and would expose the cryptocurrency to potentially trillions of dollars of retail investors and pension funds. Bitcoin price jumped after the news and was stable at about $27,000.
On Tuesday, more institutional investment news boosted the crypto market. EDX Markets, an exchange backed by the titans of TradFi Citadel, charles schwaband Fidelity, announced its launch. Two other asset managers then joined the ETF application battle, as WisdomTree and Invesco filed separate applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs. “There is more recognition in the market that Bitcoin is becoming a mainstream asset class,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Fortune. "We are seeing some of the largest investment funds become interested in the asset once again."
However, some analysts take a more measured tone.
“It will be interesting to see if this new wave of institutional buyouts is sustainable,” said Michael Safai, managing partner at crypto trading firm Dexterity Capital. Fortune in an email, "and whether these companies will join their hedge fund peers in looking beyond the top two or three currencies."
Update, June 21, 2023: This article has been updated with comment from Bitwise and Dexterity Capital.
