Bitcoin climbs to $31,000 and eyes yearly highs thanks to BlackRock

Cryptocurrencies rise aggressively today, on Tuesday. Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied more than 1% in the last 24 hours and climbed back above $31.00. Ethereum (ETH), meanwhile, rises moderately and remains at $1,950.

BlackRock is once again the responsible party for the queen cryptocurrency´s latest rally. The Nasdaq exchange filed a new application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to float BlackRock's proposed Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) after the regulator's initial rejection yesterday, on Monday. The new product proposed by Nasdaq and Larry Fink's manager named Coinbase as the lead partner in a "shared surveillance" agreement to prevent market manipulation.

This news propelled Bitcoin to an intraday high of $31,375.61, a figure very close to the yearly high of $31,389.54 recorded last June 23. BlackRock and Coinbase's new application closely resembles the one recorded yesterday by Fidelity, which also designated Coinbase as its partner to avoid manipulation, or that of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and ARK Investment Management, as it also included an anonymous cryptocurrency platform in such an agreement. Market observers believe that, once again, it could be Coinbase.

It should be recalled that 'The Wall Street Journal' reported last Friday that the US regulator rejected applications from BlackRock, Invesco, Fidelity and other companies to create a spot Bitcoin ETF because the SEC understood that the filings for these products were not "clear or complete."

"Enthusiasm for Bitcoin is growing, propelled by efforts to revive spot Bitcoin ETF applications. Its commanding presence in the crypto market is increasingly evident, making up nearly half of the industry's $1.2 trillion market cap, the most dominant it's been in over two years," stated Rachel Lin, CEO and co-founder of SynFutures, in statements reported by the media outlet 'CoinDesk'.

And the data recorded thusly does not deceive us. Since BlackRock's intentions first became known, Bitcoin has risen more than 25% in just over two weeks. Numerous experts such as those at Bernstein believe there is "a good chance" that BlackRock will get the regulator to give in and greenlight such a product after a decade of denials. Fink's management company's track record with the SEC (the regulator has only vetoed one application from the company in its entire history) or a possible court defeat by the supervisor against Grayscale, are some of the reasons to believe that BlackRock will get its way.

Be that as it may, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, stressed that the queen cryptocurrency continues to "fluctuate largely between $30,000 and $31,000", the range in which it has been moving in recent weeks. For the expert, the consolidation of these prices "may feel encouraging to the crypto community after such a powerful rally a couple of weeks ago."

"While it hasn't managed to capitalize any further, that it hasn't given back a portion of those gains gives the impression that traders think there's more to come and that this is merely a period of consolidation amid a bigger move. Time will tell whether that turns out to be the case and news flow may have a big part to play in the outcome but what we've seen so far is encouraging," Erlam added.

Meanwhile, Joe DiPasquale, CEO of BitBull Capital, believes the reigning cryptocurrency may be testing the support zone between $27,000 and $29,000. If so, we could see further declines in the altcoins space, which rallied aggressively on Monday. ""Some of that sentiment shifted toward alts, as ETH showed signs of wanting to test $2K, and other altcoins also rallied. Market participants will do well to remain cautious of sustained upside momentum," the expert added.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that the Bored Ape Yacht Club's collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) has reached a new low since October 2021 with a price below 30 ETH ($58,700). This price represents a loss of half of what it was worth in April, reflecting a broader market slump in these digital assets.

In other market news, the fall of more than 4% in Litecoin (LTC) stands out. Ripple (XRP) rises 1.4%, Cardano (ADA) rebounds nearly 1%. Meanwhile, Solana (SOL) drops nearly 1.5%.

"LTC often served as a sentiment metric on the BTC halving, being scheduled in advance compared to it. During 2015, LTC increased by 824% in the months prior to the halving. In 2019, the price increase by 525% reaching the top price 7 weeks before the halving. Now, LTC is trading at the highest prices since April 2022. The next halving is scheduled for 3rd of August 2023, and the big increase in price, while most of the altcoins keeps lagging, suggests bullish sentiment is increasing ahead of the next BTC halving," explained Matteo Greco, research analyst at Finequia International.