Bitcoin breaches US$30,000 on institutional interest; Ether, other tokens follow higher

Bitcoin traded above US$30,000 in Thursday morning trading in Asia, leading gains across all top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The rally follows news of more major financial institutions venturing into crypto after BlackRock announced a Bitcoin ETF application last week. In addition, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in congressional testimony on Wednesday that Bitcoin has “staying power.”

Crypto

Bitcoin surged 6.72% over the last 24 hours to US$30,118.51 at 7:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, up 20.33% for the past week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency broke through the US$30,000 resistance line early morning on Thursday for the first time since April. 

Ether also rose 6.04% to US$1,893, gaining 14.79% for the week. 

“Market confidence has recently been buoyed by BlackRock’s BTC ETF application as they’ve successfully attained 575 ETF applications with only one denial, while Fidelity is rumored to be following right behind with a BTC ETF application too,” said Nick Ruck, the chief operating officer of blockchain venture studio ContentFi Labs, in an emailed statement.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with US$8.59 trillion under management as of the end of 2022, filed an application on June 15 for the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Other leading financial institutions followed, despite U.S. regulators this month filing lawsuits against crypto exchanges, alleging they illegally trade many tokens that should have been registered as financial securities.

In a related bullish development, EDX Markets, the New Jersey-based digital asset exchange backed by Wall Street firms, such as Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp., opened for business in the U.S. on Tuesday. The exchange offers Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin tokens for trading.

Deutch Bank AG, Germany’s largest bank, has also applied to a local regulator for a license to operate as a crypto custodian, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. 

“Jerome Powell also made some remarks about Bitcoin that could be interpreted as bullish,” Benjamin Stani, the director of business development and sales at crypto trading platform Matrixport, told Forkast via Telegram message.

Powell reportedly said during a monetary policy hearing at Capitol Hill on Wednesday that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have “staying power” as an asset class, and that the central bank regards stablecoins used for payments as a form of money. He also said that the central bank should have a stronger role in regulating stablecoins. 

All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies gained in the past 24 hours. Cardano’s ADA jumped 7.02% to US$0.287 for a weekly increase of 9.61%, helped by news of network improvements. Litecoin rose 6.56% to US$85.28, up 16.87% in the past seven days.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization rose 4.96% to US$1.17 trillion in the last 24 hours, while trading volume surged 59.05% to US$60.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.