The world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has delivered a strong upswing with the BTC price shooting nearly 7% in the last 24 hours. As of press time, Bitcoin is trading 6.74% up at a price of $28,721 and a market cap of $557 billion.
Despite the strong SEC crackdown earlier this week, institutional players particularly from traditional finance have shown great interest in stepping into the crypto game. Last week, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock applied for a spot-Bitcoin ETF with the SEC. Other financial giants such as Fidelity investment and wisdom tree are also making similar moves.
On the other hand, crypto exchange EDX Markets, backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp. is looking to start operations soon in the country.
With traditional financial players throwing their weight behind Bitcoin, investor sentiment has improved to a great extent. Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact told Bloomberg
Over the past few years, the crypto industry players have been pushing hard enough to bring a spot Bitcoin ETF to the market. However, the SEC has denied dozens of applications in the past citing insufficient consumer protection measures and other risks.
BlackRock recently submitted an application while Grayscale Investments is in a legal fight with the SEC to convert their Bitcoin Trust into an ETF. The value difference of the trust has decreased, and some believe that BlackRock’s move could help Grayscale’s case.
Traders are also interested in knowing more about the economic stimulus plans in China, as the central bank has recently reduced borrowing costs.