Bitcoin, the currency created to subvert the financial establishment, has shaken off weeks of sickness with the support of Wall Street’s finest.
The original crypto coin has leapt 20% to two-month highs at $30,182 over the past 11 days after BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, revealed hopes for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.
BlackRock filed for a prospective spot bitcoin ETF on June 15, undeterred by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) past record of rejecting every such application. The news helped bitcoin bounce out of the doldrums and snap two consecutive weeks of losses.
Satoshi Nakamoto’s rebel child is invigorated by the prospect of an ETF that offers investors exposure to spot bitcoin on a regulated U.S. stock exchange without the hassle of custody.
Bitcoin’s market value has grown to comprise nearly half of the $1.1 trillion overall crypto market, its highest share in over two years, according to data tracker CoinMarketCap.com. Its share was around 40% at the start of the year, up from a low of 34% in 2018.
“The news of the ETF filing is evidence of adoption and interest from top global players, which is, of course, interesting to institutional investors and traders alike,” said Mikkel Morch, chairman at digital asset investment fund ARK36.
Fueling optimism among some crypto advocates is BlackRock’s strong track record of getting the SEC’s green light for ETFs more generally, although it hasn’t filed for a crypto one before. It boasts a 575-1 approval rate, according to Rosenblatt Securities analyst Andrew Bond.
Since the BlackRock filing, Invesco and WisdomTree have also reapplied for spot bitcoin ETFs after they had previous applications rejected by the regulator.
The mini-rush of pitches to the U.S. watchdog comes days after the SEC sued major crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance for allegedly breaking securities laws, casting a chill over the cryptocurrency market.
