After surging for two days on spot Bitcoin ETF euphoria, the price of Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, stalled, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda. Wall Street is becoming a little pessimistic regarding the global growth outlook as global central bank tightening enters a new phase, which all of sudden has made crypto look a little bit more attractive.
The price of BTC was recently trading at about $30,180, roughly where it stood 24 hours ago when investor optimism spiked after three financial services powerhouses, including BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager – applied for BTC spot ETFs. Ether (ETH), the second largest crypto in market value, followed a similar path to BTC, dipping around the time of the BitGo announcement via Twitter but then regaining ground to recently change hands near the $1,900 threshold it reached on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of June.
Bob Baxley, the CTO of decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure provider Maverick Protocol, noted a “narrative shift that is likely to propel the digital asset industry forward in a way that just wasn’t on our collective radar only a week or so ago.”
“It’s almost certain that a Bitcoin ETF will get approved – either BlackRock’s or any of the flurry of other recent filings – and it’s clear that a large number of heavyweights in traditional finance want exposure to the digital asset industry more generally,” Baxley wrote, adding that he will also be interested to see how Ethereum performs in upcoming months.
The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of crypto markets performance, recently rose 0.2%. U.S. stock indexes were mixed with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rising 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ticking down slightly.
Crypto markets have been surging in recent days due to investor optimism and growing concern about central bank prescriptions to tame inflation and their impact on economic expansion. Despite a brief dip after the BitGo announcement, BTC and ETH have regained their perch and most other major cryptos are largely in the green.
Bitcoin needs to lead the charge higher over the next few days for momentum buying to kick in, said Moya.