CRYPT — A market just getting started and coming under increasing pressure from regulators in the US is seeing some of the biggest names in finance placing new bets on cryptocurrencies. This adds competition and energy to the industry. BlackRock (BLK), the world’s largest asset management company, has expressed interest in launching a new exchange-traded fund that would have bitcoin as its underlying asset.
Citadel Securities, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, along with Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab (SCHW), two other prominent fund managers, are providing financial backing for a new cryptocurrency exchange. And Deutsche Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, plans to launch a cryptocurrency custody service that will store its customers’ digital assets for them.
These Wall Street-tested corporate endorsements are helping to drive up the value of cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin (BTC-USD). Specifically, the value of bitcoin helps drive up the value of cryptocurrencies. After crossing the $30,000 threshold for the first time since April, the price of the cryptocurrency considered the most valuable in the world hit a new all-time high on Friday, hitting $31,389. Bitcoin price was up 81% for the year on Friday.
Other cryptocurrencies, such as ether (ETH-USD) and the AVAX token issued by Avalanche (AVAX-USD), also saw significant price increases this week. On Friday, the overall market capitalization of crypto assets surpassed $1.2 trillion, marking a 14% increase from its value a week earlier compared to the previous week’s value.
This growing interest from traditional financial institutions comes at a time of mounting danger for a sector that has failed to regain its footing in the years since the 2022 implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and regulatory crackdown. who followed. Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed lawsuits against the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States and globally, Coinbase (COIN) and Binance. The SEC claims that these two companies allowed the trading of digital currencies on their platforms when these currencies should have been registered with the agency.
