Rayana AlQubali
RIYADH: Bitcoin and Ether made record peaks in Asia trade on Tuesday, with enthusiasm for cryptocurrency adoption and worry about inflation driving momentum and flows into the asset class.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency in trading internationally, traded higher on Tuesday, rising by 2.99 percent to $67,809 at 4:18 p.m Riyadh time.
Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, traded at $4,805, up 1.28 percent, according to data from Coindesk.
Bitcoin also set a new record today, breaking through $68,000. In addition, some analysts predict that the cryptocurrency will continue to rise further in the coming weeks.
“A new Bitcoin all-time high is always a good moment to pause and celebrate, especially that the price action corresponds to ARK36’s earlier predictions.
“However, given the current market conditions – both in terms of broader market fundamentals and on-chain activity – we can reasonably say this is just a start of a more sustained uptrend we’ll see develop throughout the month and perhaps even up until the end of Q4,” Mikkel Morch, Executive Director & Risk Management at crypto/digital assets hedge fund ARK36 said.
Market momentum has been gathering since last month’s launch of a futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States raised expectations of flow-driven gains.
Inflows into bitcoin products and funds have hit a record $6.4 billion so far this year, data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed, and totaled $95 million last week.
Other pieces of positive news have also helped, including plans by Grayscale, the world’s largest digital currency manager, to convert its flagship bitcoin trust into a spot-bitcoin ETF.
Last week Grayscale also applied to list a “future of finance” fund that would track companies involved in the growing digital economy.
Morch said: “At the same time, each day brings another news story indicating that the institutional adoption of Bitcoin is on the increase as well. The interest in Bitcoin is relentless, it is global, and is currently showing no signs of abating – creating perfect conditions for the price to keep increasing in the short to medium term.
“Of course, short-term pullbacks are always an option and, usually, the higher the price, the greater the volatility. So a deeper correction may still occur – especially if an unexpected event shakes the markets – but the general trend points to an increased possibility of a strong and sustained rally.”
