BITCOIN rose on Monday (October 21) as a surge in inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for major digital assets, as well as optimism over the prospects for regulation in the US, lifted sentiment.
The cryptocurrency rose about 1 percent as of 8:30 a.m. in Singapore to close at $70,000, a level last seen in June. Smaller tokens such as second-ranked Ether and top-10 Solana coins also advanced.
U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs attracted nearly $2.4 billion in net inflows in the six days to Oct. 18, data compiled by Bloomberg shows, partly on bets that U.S. cryptocurrency rules will become friendlier after the Nov. 5 presidential election .
Republican candidate Donald Trump is a strong supporter of cryptocurrencies, so much so that Bitcoin is seen as a so-called Trump deal. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democratic challenger, has pledged support for a regulatory framework for the industry. This contrasts with the crackdown on the sector under the Biden administration.
According to David Lawant, head of research at cryptocurrency broker FalconX, the two key market trends are the elections and the global macroeconomic environment. The Bitcoin options market indicates that “forward implied volatility is highly clustered around Election Day and subdued somewhat leading up to and some time after,” he wrote in a note.
Bitcoin gained almost 10 percent in the seven days to Sunday, the original cryptocurrency’s best weekly performance in more than a month. Demand for the ETF helped the token reach a record high of $73,798 in March. BLOOMBERG
