Bitcoin bulls have brushed off a sweeping legal crackdown against some of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency industry, high interest rates and global recession concerns to push the digital currency’s value close to a 20-month high this week.
The digital coin traded at around $41,700 on Tuesday morning, after pushing past $42,000 the day before. It has gained roughly 150 percent this year, far outperforming the Nasdaq composite index, as investors bet that regulators will soon approve the first spot exchange-traded fund that is designed to track the price of Bitcoin.
Investment management specialists are swarming. Thirteen firms, including BlackRock, Fidelity and the Swiss-based Pando Asset, have filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create such an E.T.F.
