Top cryptocurrencies mixed; Bitcoin at $30,056, Ether flat

Ether was flat, advancing 0.02% to $1,879.66 to add 12.87% for the week

Bitcoin rose and stayed above $30,000 in Asia, holding onto the solid gains made this week on the back of increasing institutional interest in the token. Ether was almost flat. Other cryptocurrencies traded mixed, with Cardano’s ADA token advancing and Binance’s BNB dropping. In general, most tokens were holding weekly gains encouraged by Bitcoin’s rally.

Bitcoin added 0.33% during the past 24 hours to $30,056.27 in Hong Kong, 17.52% higher for the past week, as per data from CoinMarketCap. It breached the $30,000 level early morning on Thursday for the first time since April, hitting a high of $30,737.33.

Ether was flat, advancing 0.02% to $1,879.66 to add 12.87% for the week.

BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest asset manager with $8.59 trillion under management at the end of last year, filed an application on June 15 for a Bitcoin ETF. Two more U.S.-based asset managers — WisdomTree and Invesco — also filed Bitcoin ETF applications this week.

Leading cryptocurrencies were seeing solid performances this week — Traders responded positively to the likelihood of a Bitcoin ETF come to market, Denys Peleshok, head of Asia at financial brokerage CPT Markets, stated in comments.

A successful launch of a bitcoin ETF could pave the way for more inflows from individuals as well as professional investors, he said. The investment vehicle could lower the barrier of entry into the market and draw considerable volumes of investment into bitcoin specifically.

Boston-based Fidelity Investments, another top financial services firm that managed $4.2 trillion as of Q1 2023, is also reported to be preparing to file a Bitcoin ETF application.

In one more uplifting move for institutional adoption of crypto, EDX Markets opened for business on Tuesday as a digital asset exchange backed by Wall Street companies like Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp. EDX said U.S. regulatory compliance is a central aspect of its operations.

These moves by traditional finance come after the clampdown on the U.S. crypto sector in June by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed lawsuits against the Binance.US and Coinbase exchanges. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges they illegally traded cryptocurrencies that should have been registered as financial securities, among other charges.

(Bitcoin could) continue profiting from its position as a quasi-commodity when most other digital assets are labelled as securities by regulators. Due to this, Bitcoin could come out a winner from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s legal efforts, Peleshok added.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell commented on Bitcoin during a monetary policy hearing on Capitol Hill this week, saying the token as having “staying power” as an asset class.

In the meantime, Mastercard Inc., the world’s second biggest payment processor, announced Thursday that it will extend its Engage network to accept more blockchain and digital asset partners.

Other leading cryptocurrencies were mixed, even though making weekly gains led by Bitcoin. Binance’s BNB token shed 2.53% to $242.49 while adding 2.36% during the last seven days.

Cardano’s ADA added 2.21% to $0.2922, gaining 10.90% during the past week.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased 0.14% to $1.17 trillion during the past 24 hours, while trading volume declined 25.24% to $45.06 billion, as per CoinMarketCap data.