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