07/03 update below. This post was originally published on July 1

Bitcoin
BTC
, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have rocketed higher this year due to a myriad of surprising different factors.

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The bitcoin price has doubled from its late 2022 lows, climbing to over $30,000 per bitcoin and pushing up the price of other top ten coins BNB
BNB
, XRP
XRP
, cardano, dogecoin and solana. The surge has seen $300 billion added to the combined market this year.

Now, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock
BLK
—which looks after around $10 trillion on behalf of clients—has triggered a flood of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications that combined boast $27 trillion in assets under management.

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“Many of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. are actively working to provide access to bitcoin and more,” CoinShares chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors posted to Twitter alongside a list of financial institutions, including Fidelity, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley
MS
, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Invesco
IVZ
and Bank of America
BAC
.

Fidelity is the latest financial giant to enter the race to be the first to market with a fully-fledged spot bitcoin ETF, on Thursday refiling the paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the so-called Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust it first proposed in 2021.

07/03 update: The SEC could be poised to reject the recent flood of spot bitcoin ETF filings, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources “familiar with the matter” who leaked the information to the newspaper.

According to the Journal’s leaker, officials within the SEC think the applications, led by BlackRock, aren’t clear enough about how they’ll manage a “surveillance-sharing agreement,” designed to deter fraud and manipulation by ensuring the fund issuer is monitoring market trading activity, clearing activity and customer identity.

The SEC has reportedly notified the Nasdaq exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), representing the asset managers, that the filings are not “sufficiently clear and comprehensive” and instructed them to refile the applications with the correct data.

“Crypto markets enjoyed another positive week, with bitcoin stabilizing near its $30,000 range peak,” Rachel Lin, founder of decentralized derivatives SynFutures, said in emailed comments.

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“Bitcoin’s comparative performance against the wider crypto market strengthened, with no signs of reversal. Meanwhile, altcoins saw modest gains last week followed by a more significant pullback this week. Bitcoin is trading near its mid-term highs, while most altcoins’ market caps are approximately 20% lower. Major altcoins like solana
SOL
, polygon
MATIC
, polkadot, and algorand
ALGO
have yet to regain their May levels.”

Lin pointed to derivatives data that showed increased trading activity, with bitcoin’s open interest hitting $16 billion. Options open interest indicates 66% calls to 34% puts, with the most significant interest at the 35,000 and 32,000 call levels, acting as resistance if bitcoin breaks the $30,000 level.

“Bitcoin dominance has hit a new yearly high of 52%. Bitcoin looks stronger than altcoins on the charts, even ethereum
ETH
, which previously held well against Bitcoin, is faltering,” Lin said, adding “bitcoin’s outperformance is largely due to bitcoin ETF news.”

source