Bitcoin’s Rise Fuelled by U.S. Investors Buying Ahead of Potential Spot ETF Approval: Matrixport

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), has risen 25% in the last month, with most of these gains accumulating during U.S. trading hours, crypto services provider Matrixport said in a note on Wednesday.

“This is a significant development and shows that U.S. institutions and U.S. investors are embracing the news that a U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded-fund (ETF) appears imminent,” wrote Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport

ETFs are traded on an exchange and track the performance of an underlying asset. They are popular investment products as they are cheap to trade and allow investors to gain access to cryptocurrencies without buying the underlying digital assets themselves. Many analysts and trading houses expect spot bitcoin ETF approval to lead to a rush of mainstream money into the sector.

Matrixport notes there are about 420 million- 440 million cryptocurrency owners globally. 260 million are in Asia, 54 million in North America, 38 million in Africa, 31 million in South America and 1.5 million in Oceania. While Asia is the largest group by far, the “buying power of U.S. traders and institutions is a magnitude larger,” the report said.

The total crypto market cap has climbed back above $1.25 trillion, the note said.

There has been a 99% increase in volume, with $92 billion traded across the market, the note added. Bitcoin is still the top cryptocurrency, with 53% dominance, and is leading even the most high-beta altcoins in terms of performance, Matrixport said.

Technical indicators suggest that a pause in this bull market is likely, the report added.