A popular Bitcoin investor, MicroStrategy, apparently cashed out as U.S. regulators allowed a futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). The move will likely enable greater investment in digital assets.
The recent rally of bitcoin was fuelled by bets on the approval of the first U.S. ETF for bitcoin.
At last check, the flagship cryptocurrency was up 6.9% to $61,346. It reached $61,869.05, its highest since mid-April. In the month of September, it rose by more than half and is closing in on its record high of $64,895 reached in April.
A company like MicroStrategy Inc. appears to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the euphoria surrounding the possible launch of Bitcoin ETFs, with the overall value of its holding of the cryptocurrency increasing substantially. The value of cryptocurrency doubled.
About 114,042 bitcoins were held by the enterprise software firm as of September 12, purchased for a total of $3.16 billion, and averaged $27,713 per token, inclusive of fees and expenses.
As the price of the digital currency approached record highs Friday, the investment is now worth about $6.7 billion.
Regulators are taking bitcoin more seriously as its rebirth places it within touching distance of its all-time high.
After China shut down most of its bitcoin miners due to a crackdown, the U.S. now seems to be the world’s epicenter for bitcoin mining. According to a study published by Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance on Wednesday, U.S. hash rates constituted 35.4% of global hash rates by the end of August, nearly double their level in April.
Regulators are increasingly expressing concerns amid this surge of inactivity. In a speech Wednesday, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe described cryptocurrency as an emerging threat that is twice the size of subprime debt at the end of the financial crisis.
