The Bitcoin price reached $60,000 for the first time in six months last Friday, which accounts for a near all-time high for the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value.
The recent event has been attributed by investors and stakeholder hopes U.S. regulators will provide the green light for creation of a futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). The move is expected to create a ripple effect across the cryptocurrency world, with creation of a path to more robust investments in digital assets.
Point to note, a host of investors have been holding their breaths about an approval for the first U.S. ETF for Bitcoin, with expectations that such an action will create vast opportunities. It is worth mentioning that recent speculations may have also been propagated by a tweet by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (See screenshot).
Figure 1: A tweet by the SEC about a possible fund that holds Bitcoin futures contracts
As such, the crypto rose 4.5 percent to its highest level since April, and last traded at $59,290. The virtual coin has since grown by more than half since September to close in on its April record high of $64,895.
A quick scan at the data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows that Bitcoin’s prices have been exhibiting a slow upward movement from the start of October. This observation reflects differently on realities of past months – prices were initially stuck around $42,000 from September.
Regulation Rumours Fuelled the Price Action
A Bloomberg report intimated that a number of sources had provided positive indications that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to approve a number of Bitcoin futures ETFs to begin trading this week.
Expectedly, the rumours has a great effect on Bitcoin as the price increased by about $7,000 over the past one week, representing a 13 percent rise from $53,000 to $60,000. This was described as the sharpest rise over a two-day period at a time when the virtual coin rallied from $54,000.
For a long time, many managers in the $6.7 trillion ETF industry had burned the midnight oil trying to get the aforementioned approval from the SEC, these efforts had proved futile as the industry strived to find a carrier for the investment mechanism that the U.S regulators would favour. The world-famous Winklevoss twins are reported to have filed the first application for a Bitcoin ETF back in the year 2013.
Indeed, everyone is now holding their breath in wait of whether the SEC will approve or reject the Bitcoin Futures ETF sponsored by ProShares.
