The cryptocurrency market gained about $60 billion on Wednesday in New York as the price of bitcoin surpassed $30,000 for the first time in two months, following a slew of announcements that institutional players–including BlackRock, Invesco
IVZ
“This vote of confidence has given some traders and investors the conviction that has been lacking in the market in recent weeks,” says Noelle Acheson, crypto market analyst and former head of research at CoinDesk and Genesis Trading.
The launch of Citadel-backed crypto exchange EDX apparently also contributed to the gains. “The re-establishment of institutional interest in the market was the catalyst that was needed,” says Todd Groth, head of index research at CoinDesk Indices. The exchange will offer professionals access to bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash.
Bitcoin
BTC
The cryptocurrency market’s value has recovered to $1.22 trillion from a recent low of $1.06 trillion on June 13 after the SEC charged the two of the largest crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, for the sale of unregistered securities, earlier in the month.
“Sentiment has definitely shifted,” says Acheson, “but there are still some headwinds for the market to contend with, and despite what today may have shown, BTC is not yet totally divorced from traditional market sentiment.”
Tokens named as securities in the SEC suits made partial recoveries after declining on the news. Solana’s sol, Polygon’s matic and Cardano’s ada are up 4%, 8%, and 7.6%, respectively, over the last 24 hours. All three are still down more than 20% since June 5, the day of the SEC’s suit against Binance.
But the market continues to be dominated by bitcoin and ether, as they represent 66.5% of its market. This bifurcation, says Groth, “will likely increase as they’re under the shroud of regulatory certainty.”
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