This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
What happened
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) tokens reached a fresh all-time high late Monday evening and stayed close to the record price on Tuesday. Bitcoin prices peaked at $68,530 per token near 11 p.m. EST on Monday, cooling down to $66,931 per token at 1 p.m. EST today. The latter reading is still 2% above the token's 24-hour low, just before Wall Street's closing bell on Monday. At the late-night peak, Bitcoin saw a 4.4% gain from the same daily bottom. The largest name in the cryptocurrency market did have some news to share, but the price move was primarily a continuation of a general upward trend in recent weeks.So what
Crypto-trading platform BlockFi just filed a Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission, starting the process to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on holding Bitcoin tokens. The net asset value (NAV) of this proposed fund is unknown, but BlockFi currently manages more than $10 billion of cryptocurrency assets. The company has already posted a similar filing to start up an ETF managing Bitcoin futures instead of the actual tokens, much like the just-approved ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSEMKT: BITO). That proposal is making its way through the SEC's decision-making process, followed by a decision on BlockFi's bitcoin-holding ETF. Bitcoin's trading volume is also surging as investors, both small and large, are starting or growing their holdings.Now what
That being said, BlockFi's ETF won't be large enough to move the needle on Bitcoin prices. The real price-boosting action here comes from market momentum as the Bitcoin concept keeps making headlines and attracting new investors. I can't guarantee that Bitcoin tokens will continue to rise from here, but the cryptocurrency market doesn't seem headed for another drastic correction like the 83% price reduction in 2018. Regulators and financial system managers are taking cryptocurrencies much more seriously this time around, and nobody expected Bitcoin-based ETFs during the short-lived 2017 boom. I'm happy to hold on to the fraction of a bitcoin token I hold, watching the volatile pricing drama play out in the open market. Bitcoin and other crypto tokens may indeed have a place in serious investment portfolios nowadays.This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
