Bitcoin Champion: BTC Continues to Surge, Crossing $41,000 Amid ETF Optimism

Bitcoin (BTC) has once again made headlines as it crosses the $41,000 mark for the first time in 19 months. Fueling this surge is the unending optimism surrounding a potential spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, BTC has gained over 5% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading at $41,700. At the time of writing, BTC’s market cap stands at $813 billion. This positive momentum started over the weekend and has continued to rise steadily.

The rally also saw more than $70 million liquidated from short traders during this reporting period, the data from Coinglass shows. The most significant liquidation occurred on Bitmex, amounting to $6.01 million.

This recent surge in BTC’s price can be attributed to the news that the SEC held meetings with asset managers such as Grayscale and BlackRock in late November. The purpose of these meetings was to discuss their proposed spot Bitcoin ETFs.

As a result, Bitcoin champion has now become one of the top  10 assets by market capitalization, surpassing companies like Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and Elon Musk’s Tesla. It is currently only a few billion behind social media giant Meta.

Ethereum and Other Altcoins Also See Gains

The rise in Bitcoin champion‘s price has also had a positive impact on other cryptocurrencies, with Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) all experiencing significant gains.

ETH, the second-largest digital asset, saw an almost 4% surge, breaking the $2,200 mark for the first time since May 2022. This boost can also be attributed to growing optimism around spot Ethereum ETFs, with reports of major firms like BlackRock filing applications.

Meanwhile, SOL continues its impressive upward trend that started a few months ago. It briefly broke the $65 barrier over the weekend before settling at $62 at the time of writing.

Other altcoins like ADA, Dogecoin (DOGE), Binance Coin (BNB), and XRP also saw gains of over 2% during this period. Notably, Terra-related coins such as Terra Classic (LUNC) and Terra Luna (LUNA) were among the top gainers for the day.