Bitcoin (BTC) closed Thursday’s volatile trading session in the green despite initially losing nearly all mid-week gains in the earlier hours.
The market remains buoyed by the US Federal Reserve’s dovish stance on interest rates which led to a cooling of the US dollar and a rally of equities and other risk-on assets.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were back in the news cycle too, with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) boss Gary Gensler telling CNBC that the regulator is “taking a new look” at the growing pile of applications from Grayscale, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Fidelity and many others.
The regulator is typically hawkish on anything crypto-related, but recent defeats before the courts have amped up pressure on the SEC to pave the way for these ETFs.
Approval would substantially increase traditional investors’ access to the bitcoin market, which investors believe would be a massive catalyst for a move higher on bitcoin prices.
The BTC/USDT pair is now swapping for $42,768 as of 9am, marking a 158% year-to-date rally.
Bitcoin has been one of the top-performing asset classes in 2023 – Source: tradingview.com
Ethereum (ETH) outperformed bitcoin on Thursday by ramping up more than 2.4% against the US dollar. This morning’s trades have been bearish though, with the ETH/USDT pair dipping 1.8%.
At the time of writing, ether was changing hands for $2,274.
In the broader altcoin space, Solana (SOL) pulled ahead with a 7.3% overnight gain, with Avalanche (AVAX) also on the front foot.
Gains have been more muted for the likes of Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin, while Binance’s BNB token fell by 60 basis points overnight.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.61 trillion, with bitcoin dominance at a steady 53.2%.
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