Bitcoin hit $60,000 on Friday for the first time since April, as traders expect US regulators to approve the first exchange-traded fund to track the cryptocurrency.
"Approval of an ETF that will buy bitcoin futures contracts—though not the coins themselves—would increase the cryptocurrency’s legitimacy and make it easier for institutional investors to get exposure. Four applications for bitcoin futures ETFs, submitted in August, are pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission," WSJ wrote.
Bitcoin's price has soared ahead of next week's regulatory deadline for the SEC to work on some of these applications. Thursday night, a tweet from an SEC affiliate Twitter account was seen as a hint of approval, urging investors to weigh potential risks and benefits before investing in such a fund.
"It would be a boost to sentiment if a bitcoin futures ETF were approved, an outcome that put odds of at least 75% on it," Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at crypto lender Genesis said.
Since 2013, Cryptocurrency investors have been trying to get approval for a bitcoin-based ETF. The SEC has repeatedly denied requests, saying that cryptocurrency exchanges are too opaque to be sure of fair prices.
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