Bitcoin briefly returned to its recent heights above $31,000 on Monday before dipping slightly below the threshold. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at $30,690, up almost 2% over the past 24 hours as investors seemed to regain the enthusiasm they held following spot bitcoin ETF filings by BlackRock and other financial services giants in mid-June.
Today’s lift in digital assets comes from several June tailwinds that are only now being digested, said Mark Connors, head of research for digital asset management firm 3iQ. June price action was BTC dominant due to the slew of spot BTC ETF filings, he added, noting favorable comments about the application by former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton.
In a CNBC appearance Monday, Clayton said that if the filings addressed certain protections that bitcoin futures ETFs include, that it would be difficult to resist approving a (spot) bitcoin ETF.
Ether was recently changing hands at about $1,890, up 1.8% from Sunday, same time. Other major cryptos turned from red to increase or jumped more squarely into positive territory with MATIC and ADA, the tokens of the smart contracts platforms Polygon and Cardano, rising more than 6% and 2%, respectively. BNB, the native crypto of the Binance exchange, recently rose over 4%.
The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of crypto markets performance, was recently up 1.9%. Aggressive rate increases have weighed heavily on crypto markets, but Edward Moya, senior analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, expects bitcoin to remain at about $30,000 as Wall Street awaits any US Bitcoin ETF update, and as market expectations for a 25 basis point hike at the next Fed meeting seem very likely.