On Friday, Bitcoin hit $60,000 for the first time in six months. It neared its record high as traders grew confident that U.S. regulators would approve the launch of an exchange-traded fund based on its futures contracts.
Cryptocurrency investors have been waiting for approval of the first U.S. ETF for bitcoin, whose recent rally is fuelled in part by anticipation of such move, which is seen as speeding up the mainstream adoption of digital assets.
Bitcoin, the world's biggest cash, declined 4.5 per cent to its highest level since 17 April and is finally at $59,030. It has increased by more than half in value since 20 September and is now near to its all-time high of $64,895.
The SEC is set to allow the first U.S. bitcoin futures index ETF to begin trading next week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
It is widely expected that Q 4 will see significant progress around a bitcoin ETF in the US. Ben Caselin, head of research and strategy at Asia-based cryptocurrency exchange AAX, said.
The moves posted on Friday were led by a tweet from the SEC investors education office that said: Before investing in a fund that holds Bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the risks and benefits. Several fund managers, including the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, ProShares, Invesco, Valkyrie and Galaxy Digital Funds have applied to launch bitcoin ETFs in the United States. On 1 January 2017, crypto ETFs were launched in Europe.
We have seen more institutional build up, especially in the past few weeks, than we have at any time since the volatility of Bitcoin prices back in April, said Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis Global Trading.
Gary Gensler has previously said that the crypto market involves many tokens which are not registered securities and leaves prices vulnerable to manipulation and millions of investors open to risks.