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Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
surged above the $30,000 threshold on Thursday morning for the first time since April, when it hit a yearly high of $31,000, according to CoinDesk data.
The crypto was back down to $29,777 just before midday, a decline of 0.5% over the past 24 hours. But it’s up more than 13% so far this week and nearly 80% for the year to date.
The rally comes despite a month of regulatory crackdowns across the crypto industry, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suing crypto exchange Binance and Coinbase,
Read: Under court deal, Binance can continue U.S. operations as it battles SEC fraud charges
Regulators alleged that Binance was operating an illegal exchange and diverted investors’ funds into a trading entity controlled by CEO Changpeng Zhao. The SEC also alleged that Coinbase operated its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national security exchange and broker.
What’s fueling the rally?
“The official launch of the new crypto exchange EDX Markets boosted Bitcoin’s rise,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, in a note.
The project is backed by financial giants Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab. The market also reacted positively to BlackRock’s application to the SEC for a spot bitcoin ETF filed last week, he said.
See: BlackRock is applying for a spot bitcoin ETF. Here’s why it matters to the crypto industry.
Bitcoin is still far from its peak of over $65,000 set in November 2021.
