Crypto Market Notches 12% Weekly Gain As OldSchool Financial Firms Come Out To Play Forbes

BlackRock, Fidelity and a number of other old-school asset managers are entering the cryptocurrency market ... [+] and driving up prices as the SEC cracks down on emerging rivals.
Cryptocurrency prices capped a week of gains in New York as the market took advantage of incursions by traditional financial players amid a US government crackdown on major pioneers of the digital asset sector.
According to CoinGecko, the value of all crypto tokens as of midday was around $1.25 trillion, up nearly 12% on the week and 51% year-over-year. Bitcoin market leader Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $30,889, up 2.5% in the last 24 hours and 20% for the week, and crypto ether (ETH) is in second place. E.T ) rose 0.8% to $1,901, a seven-day gain of 14%.
There appear to be two forces that determine prices. The first was BlackRock's announcement last week ChLK , the world's largest asset manager, has sought approval to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the Bitcoin spot market. The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly refused to approve these funds, although it allows the use of futures ETFs, arguing that the latter are more vulnerable to market manipulation. BlackRock has had its proposal approved by the SEC, but after such a powerful company rejected several rivals in an attempt to list in a new category, it is probably time for the idea.
Evidence of this is that smaller ETF sponsors quickly followed BlackRock's lead and offered their own Bitcoin funds, including Invesco. IVZ , investments in WisdomTree and Valkyrie. Spot market ETFs can increase demand for Bitcoin by providing equity trading convenience to investors wary of using crypto wallets, seed phrases and hacker risk. Collective investment funds managed by professional managers may run counter to the individualistic philosophy of many early adopters of digital assets – those who follow the motto “Not your keys, not your cryptocurrency” – but they do not have the profit of the week not stopped.
Another development that supported the market was the announcement that EDX, an institutional cryptocurrency exchange, is open for trading. Backed by traditional financial heavyweights such as Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity and Sequoia Capital, the exchange trades in four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. It differs from established competitors in that it operates on a non-custody model, which prohibits it from taking ownership of the properties it lists.
"It appears that despite the SEC upheaval, many of the biggest players in the US financial services pantheon remain bullish, planning new spot ETFs and investing in ecosystem infrastructure," said Bradley Duke, co-founder and CEO of ETC. etc. The group, which offers exchange-traded crypto products in Europe, told Forbes via email. "This has led to an improvement in investor sentiment."
The improved outlook comes after attacks against Binance and Coinbase, the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in early June. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed civil lawsuits against both the operation of unlicensed exchanges and the listing of cryptocurrencies it considers unregistered securities, and has also accused Binance of engaging in a multi-step scheme to secretly evade US law. "participate.
It is not yet clear which cryptocurrencies are securities and which are commodities or whether the two may be the same currency at different times, although Bitcoin appears to be out of the hands of the SEC.
Cryptocurrency prices fell in the days following the lawsuits, with the market value hitting a low of around $1.06 trillion on June 13. BlackRock's June 15 news sparked a rally that gained momentum this week.
One of the big participants in the current growth network is Bitcoin Cash, which grew 31% on Friday and 66% during the week. According to Greg Moritz, co-founder of the cryptocurrency hedge fund AltTab Capital, the initial listing of EDX was the catalyst for this growth.
"With the recent launch of institutional exchange EDX, Bitcoin Cash has stepped into the spotlight," he writes. “The fact that BCH is listed alongside BTC and ETH suggests that institutional players are considering BCH. the chief it is more likely to be seen as a commodity rather than a security. Therefore, open interest has increased as traders anticipate a significant inflow of institutional capital into BCH, a project that previously had a rather bleak long-term outlook.
Bitcoin Cash is based on the same blockchain as Bitcoin, but can process transactions much faster. This makes it faster and cheaper to use, but at the cost of security.
Litecoin LTC , the fourth currency listed on the EDX, which is a fork of Bitcoin as Bitcoin Cash, rose 5.4% on Friday and 19% for the week.
On Wall Street, shares of cryptocurrency mining companies posted significant gains. Marathon Digital is up 7.4% on a daily basis and 27% on a weekly basis, Hive Blockchain is up 7% (29%) and Hut 8 Mining is up 5% (27%).
Coinbase posted a daily increase of 6.9% and a weekly gain of 11%. The market value is also up 4.7% before the SEC lawsuit was announced on June 6.

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Market Analysis - May 18, 2023 - Brandon Van Zee