Bitcoin hits two-week high on big money bets
NEW YORK: Bitcoin rallied above $54,000 as the digital currency rides a wave of investor demand for crypto assets.
Prices jumped 4.6% in early US trading, reaching the highest in two weeks. While highflying bets like Tesla Inc. and the ARK Innovation ETF have cratered recently, bitcoin has steadily climbed on news of more institutional involvement in crypto.
On Monday, NYDIG, a provider of bitcoin-related financial services, announced that it raised $200 million from investors including Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual and Soros Fund Management.
NYDIG said that bitcoin adoption among institutions is accelerating, citing data that insurers have more than $1 billion in bitcoin-related exposure on its platform.
“Bitcoin and ethereum bullishness are back as more bigmoney bets keep flowing into cryptocurrencies,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote in an email.
“Institutional interest still seems strong.”
The narrative that longerterm investors such as family offices, insurers and corporate treasurers are adding exposure to tokens is controversial but gaining traction.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently said that it’s seeing substantial demand from institutions as it works to restart its cryptocurrency trading desk.
Technical analysis is also supportive of higher prices, according to a report by Evercore ISI strategist Rich Ross, who said bitcoin could reach $75,000.
In the past couple of days, oil billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke came out in favor of Bitcoin and Rokke’s Aker ASA is setting up a new business to tap into its potential.
“Bitcoin may still go to zero. But it can also become the core of a new monetary architecture,” Rokke, Norway’s second-richest person with an estimated $5.4 billion net worth, wrote in a shareholder letter. He says it’s not inconceivable that one bitcoin could one day “be worth millions of dollars.”