LONDON/SINGAPORE/NEW YORK- Bitcoin rose by nearly 10 percent on Tuesday to $34,872, its highest in nearly a year-and-a-half, on mounting speculation that an exchange-traded bitcoin fund is imminent.
That followed a 10 percent surge on Monday, when bitcoin posted its best day in almost a year, and the bullishness spread across the wider crypto market and into related stocks.
Any approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that owns bitcoin on behalf of fund investors is predicted to fuel demand.
A spot bitcoin ETF, the argument goes, would allow previously wary investors access to crypto via the stock market, ushering a new wave of capital into the sector.
Bitcoin, a volatile asset whose price has doubled so far this year, was last up 7.87 percent at $34,020, the highest level since May 2022. It traded above $35,000 in Asia trading hours. The second-largest cryptocurrency, ether climbed 4.50 percent to $1,786.30, its highest since August.
Crypto-linked shares such as major US exchange Coinbase Global and bitcoin owner MicroStrategy gained more than 7 percent and 12 percent , respectively.
“A sense of excitement has erupted in the crypto market and now it’s just a case of waiting to see if and when something concrete emerges from the SEC,” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of digital asset firm Nexo, said in an emailed statement.