The token climbed to $31,411 per coin on Friday before experiencing some pullback later in the day. As of 07:30 GMT on Sunday, Bitcoin was trading at $30,814, showing a 0.4% increase over the past 24 hours. It has risen approximately 20% in the past week and around 87% since the beginning of the year. However, it remains over 50% below its all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021.
Analysts attribute this surge to the recent surge in interest from financial giants in the cryptocurrency sector. Last week, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager based in the US, applied to register a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), allowing investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without actually purchasing it. Invesco and WisdomTree, two other major financial services firms, also recently resubmitted applications for similar products.
These applications followed a regulatory crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry in the US. Earlier this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed lawsuits against major exchanges Coinbase and Binance for alleged violations of securities laws. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, was accused of operating unlawfully in the US, while Coinbase, a prominent US-based crypto trading platform, faced charges for operating as an unregistered broker.
Despite the regulatory challenges, industry experts view the Bitcoin ETF applications as a positive development in the sector's pursuit of regulatory approval. They believe that the recent surge in Bitcoin's price indicates the resilience of public interest in cryptocurrencies.
"A sustained move above $31,000 would indicate that we are entering a new phase where market participants are beginning to reevaluate some of the previous regulatory concerns. Despite seemingly antagonistic rhetoric from regulators, the Bitcoin spot ETF applications have amplified the notion that institutions remain interested in crypto," said Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at Toronto-based crypto platform FRNT Financial, in a statement on Telegram.
He further noted that there are significant players interested in expanding their involvement in the digital asset space despite regulatory pressures, and Bitcoin's rise above $30,000 seems to acknowledge this sentiment.