Bitcoin has broken the $60,000 barrier and is nearing its all-time high, continuing its meteoric rise following the approval of a new type of investment linked to the cryptocurrency, AFP reports.
In early afternoon London, bitcoin was trading at around $60,301, narrowing the gap with its all-time high of $68,991 reached in November 2021.
Anticipation of the approval of a new investment product tracking the price of bitcoin has contributed in recent months to a recovery in prices, which had largely bounced back by the end of 2022 following the collapse of several giants in the sector.
Having been approved on January 10 by US market regulator the SEC, this new type of investment - an index fund (ETF) indexed to bitcoin - theoretically enables a wider audience to invest in these cryptocurrencies without having to hold them directly.
The launch of this product "has generated a new wave of optimism, leading to a sharp increase in trading volumes," notes Mikkel Morch of specialist fund ARK36.
Some investors looking to recoup their investments had initially triggered a wave of mass withdrawals from the GBTC (Grayscale Bitcoin Trust) fund after it was converted into an ETF.
But once the selling frenzy subsided, flows into US bitcoin ETFs, such as the one run by asset management giant BlackRock, increased.
Investment products linked to listed cryptoassets have attracted about $5.7 billion since the start of the year, according to calculations by asset manager CoinShares. / BGNES
