Bitcoin price nears $29,000 after flurry of Bitcoin ETF applications

Bitcoin was trading near $29,000 Wednesday morning, riding the wave of flurry of new Bitcoin ETF applications.

The price of the largest cryptocurrency is now changing hands at $28,870, up from lows of $26,700 seen in the previous 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. It’s currently up 11% over the last week.

Bitcoin price shot up beyond $28,000. Image: CoinGecko.

Other high market cap cryptocurrencies are also in the green, with ether up 4.7% and cardano — which had a recent software upgrade — up 7.6% over the last 24 hours. The market-wide price surge has pushed the global crypto market capitalization to $1.178 trillion.

A wave of Bitcoin ETF applications

The price momentum comes after investment giant BlockRock submitted its first ever filing for a bitcoin ETF on June 15. More recently, asset management firm WisdomTree and Invesco both filed new applications for Bitcoin ETFs, having previously done so in 2021.

The new ETF filings closely follows headlines tied to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance, which were sued by the agency for allegedly operating as unregistered securities exchanges. The suits categorized a number of crypto assets as securities, with bitcoin as seemingly one of the only exceptions. The jury appears to still be out for ether.

Bitcoin’s price swung slightly yesterday due to confusion over a movement of Silk Road-tied bitcoin seized by the US government. The wallet from which the funds moved is not named in filings pertaining to the seizure of the Silk Road funds, but it is closely tied to one wallet that was named by the US government. Debate is still ongoing as to whether the funds were moved by the government.

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