Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has jumped 6.6 percent in quick succession pushing prices well above 6,600.
At 01:00 UTC, just after Tuesday’s close, the cryptocurrency rose $428 over the course of 20 minutes as it rose in a flash for the first time since July 24, 2017, according to CoinDesk price data.
Bitcoin was last seen trading at $6,750, marking roughly a 6.6 percent increase since the day’s open.
At press time, bitcoin is gaining momentum, having stalled briefly at around $6,750 before crossing the $6,800 hurdle.
Indeed, the spike in price could be attributed to investor sentiment in lieu of the fresh bitcoin ETF proposals set to be decided upon on August 23.
This potentially could be a defining moment for cryptocurrency, whereby a denial sees longer-term bearish entrenchment, while an approval sees investment from institutional investors, currently sitting on the sidelines awaiting additional regulation.
Other major names such as Ethereum, XRP, and EOS are all up between 6-10 percent, with much of the alt-coin spread coming from a sudden rise in bitcoin’s price.
The total market capitalization also rose by a total of 11 billion in one hour as a large injection of capital entered the crypto space seeking bitcoin, bringing it from 210 billion to 221 billion CoinMarketCap data shows.
Disclosure: The author holds USDT at the time of writing.
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