First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Surpasses $71K, Reaches All-Time High

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Bitcoin (BTC) moved past $71,000 during the Asian hours, setting a new lifetime high. The leading cryptocurrency has been steadily rising since the approval of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. The token crossed $70,000 for the first time ever last week. Ether (ETH) also crossed $4,000 on Monday. Meanwhile, the broader CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) jumped nearly 1%. The rally has lifted the annualized three-month futures premium on major exchanges, including Binance, to above 25%. The elevated premium could attract cash and carry traders, boosting market liquidity.

Rising bitcoin prices have revived a crypto trading frenzy in South Korea, with volumes on local exchanges crossing those in the local stock market last week. Local media reported that trading volumes on South Korea-based crypto exchanges totaled a record 11.8 trillion won (KRW) on Sunday, or $9 billion at the going USD-KRW exchange rate. These topped Friday’s South Korean stock trading volume of 11.47 trillion won, or $8.7 billion. This figure is the combined transaction amount of Korea’s five largest won markets, including Upbit (8.8 trillion won), Bithumb (2.7 trillion won), Coinone (176.4 billion won), Gopax (55.2 billion won), and Coinone (32 billion won).

Indian cryptocurrency investment platform Mudrex plans to offer U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to institutional and retail investors in India, CEO and co-founder Edul Patel said. “This is much more valuable to institutions, as this was already available to retailers,” Patel said in an interview with CoinDesk. Retail clients in the country could access spot-bitcoin ETFs through U.S. stock investing companies, but “as far as we know,” we are the first in India to offer this service to institutions, Patel said. “We are certainly the first Indian crypto platform to offer this service.” In the first phase, Mudrex will list four spot ETFs – BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and Vanguard.

- Omkar Godbole