Bitcoin is at an 18-month high

Bitcoin rose to the highest level since May 2022 as expectations for official approval for ETFs intensified.
Bitcoin rose to its highest level in 18 months, surpassing $37,000. Crypto assets Terra and Luna caused a deep decline last year that wiped out $1.5 trillion from the crypto market. A window of at least eight days opened Thursday for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to "theoretically issue a clearance order," according to a note by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas. According to the report, even if approvals do not come this month, there is still a 90 percent chance of approval by January 10. Optimism about the regulatory body's potential approval after more than 10 years of negotiations has seen the crypto asset surge 120 percent this year. Caroline Mauron, co-founder of crypto asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets, said that expectations that the Bitcoin rally will continue continue. “Global equities increased by a modest 10 percent over the same period,” Mauron said. “The expectation of ETFs in the next leg of the rally is one of the catalysts,” said eToro Market Analyst Josh Gilbert. Gilbert said that in addition to the ETF, expectations that the Fed has stopped raising interest rates for now and a Bitcoin halving next year are also fueling the rally.