[ad_1]
Bitcoin has climbed to a 20-month high, surpassing $US42,000, with the new surge in momentum fuelled by US interest rate cut expectations and traders betting US regulators will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency climbed more than 8% to an intraday high of $US42,162 (for the first time since April 2022), as investors seemingly shrugged off the gloom that affected crypto markets following the collapse of FTX and other crypto-business failures last year.
Bitcoin’s “remarkable ascent” can be attributed to a “confluence of factors” that were buoying sentiment, Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer of crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, wrote in a note on Monday.
He cited widespread optimism that the US securities regulator may soon approve a spot bitcoin ETF, which would throw open the bitcoin market to millions more investors.
Abating inflation would lead central banks to begin easing rate hikes, making riskier assets more attractive, Mr Strijers said, and noted a steady increase in institutional engagement.
Bitcoin is up by more than 150% so far this year.
Bitcoin ETFs and regulators
Riskier investments and other interest-rate sensitive assets, such as gold, have also rallied sharply over the last few weeks as markets increasingly bet that the US Federal Reserve has finished hiking rates and will start cutting early in 2024.
A spot bitcoin ETF could allow previously wary investors access to crypto via the tightly regulated share market.
Investors are confident the SEC could approve multiple spot bitcoin ETFs as early as January, based on key public SEC filing and comment deadlines, Matteo Greco, research analyst at digital asset investment firm Fineqia International, wrote in a note.
“An approval is expected to bring short-term capital influx from the traditional finance investors.”
Investors have also welcomed the settlement of a years-long US criminal probe into Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange and a key cog in the worldwide crypto market.
The deal, in which Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down after pleading guilty to breaking US anti-money laundering laws, allows the company to continue operating.
Ether, the coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain network, rose more than 6% on Monday, hitting $US2,274.88.
Both bitcoin and ether remain far below their 2021 record highs of $US69,000 and $US4,868, respectively.
– Reuters
[ad_2]
Source link