The two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have seen an uptick in their values this week, following the news of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)'s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) bid and a surprise move by China. As of Thursday, Bitcoin was trading around $26.4K, up by half a percent, while Ethereum notched gains of 1.7%, trading around $1.6K.
Earlier this week, Cameron Winklevoss, the billionaire co-founder of New York-based crypto exchange Gemini, warned that the opportunity to buy Bitcoin before the ETF "floodgates" open is "closing fast." He suggested that the arrival of institutional investors will resemble an initial public offering (IPO) of Bitcoin.
Winklevoss's comments came after the bitcoin price topped $30,000 per bitcoin, matching its March level just before a U.S.-led crypto crackdown. This surge boosted the combined Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto market by around $100 billion in just a week.
On June 26, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF, with the Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) scheduled to launch on the Chicago Board Options BZX Exchange on June 27. Other Wall Street giants such as Invesco, Wisdom Tree, and Valkyrie followed BlackRock with their own applications for bitcoin spot ETFs with the SEC.
Meanwhile, Gary Gensler, the Chair of the SEC, testified in front of Congress this week about the SEC’s handling of crypto regulation in the US. This comes amid heated exchanges between the Chair and House representatives around the SEC’s approach towards the digital assets ecosystem.
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