After briefly pushing past $35,000 toward the end of the U.S. trading day on Monday, bitcoin has consolidated to levels around $34,500. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has gained 12% over the past 24 hours. Analysts are attributing the sudden jump to BlackRock listing its bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. database with the ticker $IBTC. Blackrock also updated its filings with the SEC, indicating a readiness to seed the ETF starting from October 2023. “This proactive approach from Blackrock suggests their preparedness to initiate trading promptly upon receiving approval from the SEC, further substantiating the optimistic sentiment surrounding an impending approval,” said Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia, in a morning note. The cryptocurrency was back at levels last seen in May 2022, before the Terra-Luna, Three Arrows Capital, Genesis and FTX debacles turned the mood so sour that BTC approached $15,000.
