Bitcoin surging towards record high after ETF trade deal

Bitcoin is surging towards a record high of $65k after a major global change came into effect on Tuesday.

Bitcoin is surging towards eclipsing its mid-April all-time high of US$64,888 after a major global change came into effect on Tuesday.

Over the weekend, the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that it would approve an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on futures contracts tied to the volatile cryptocurrency.

On Monday, that was confirmed.

Today, the first ever US bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund began trading.

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF opened on Intercontinental Exchange Inc‘s New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BITO.

The ETF had already traded around US$500 million by late morning, according to Reuters. An hour before markets closed, it had turned over $US850 million, according to Bloomberg.

At time of writing, bitcoin was sitting on US$63,902.10 — just a few hundred dollars away from its best ever price to date.

Bitcoin price at time of writing.

US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler said he partly allowed the ETF to go ahead because he prefers bitcoin futures funds to funds that hold bitcoin directly.

By having it on the market, this allows greater oversight and investor protections.

“Yet it‘s still a highly speculative asset class and investors should understand that underneath, there is the same volatility and speculation,” Mr Gensler told CNBC.

Crypto ETFs have already launched this year in Canada and Europe but didn’t surge quite to this level.

The cryptocurrency’s recent surge comes after a nasty few months where bitcoin fell below US$30,000 at one point.

It has since rebounded and has surged more than 30 per cent so far in October — prompting some to call this month “Uptober”.

Optimistic outlook on bitcoin after ETF listing.

The digital coin is predicted to crack US$80,000 this year, according to Finder.com’s latest Bitcoin Price Predictions Report coincidentally released the same day as the surge.

Bitcoin is set to peak at US$80,021 in 2021 before ending the year at US$$71,415, according to the research.

The report also found that by the end of 2025 and 2030, bitcoin prices are expected to skyrocket to an average of US$249,578 and US$5,237,082, respectively.