Bitcoin is having a moment. Since the start of June, the most popular cryptocurrency by market capitalization has surged 12%. That jump has coincided with traditional financial firms, which have long been wary of crypto, embracing bitcoin in a big way.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, applied for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund on June 15. That kicked off a string of copy cat moves by BlackRock competitors like Invesco. If these funds are approved—the SEC has so far only approved bitcoin futures ETFs as opposed to ones that directly invest in bitcoin—that could uncork a fresh wave of demand for bitcoin by giving investors an easy way to pile in.