Bitcoin hit a new all-time high Wednesday, as investors celebrated the launch of the first U.S.-based bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose more than 4 percentage points to $66,893.22 at noon ET. This surpasses the previous record of $64,899, set in mid April.
A legendary trader made bullish comments that also helped boost sentiment. Paul Tudor Jones, a billionaire investor, said crypto was his preferred inflation hedge to gold.
“Bitcoin could be a great hedge. Jones said that crypto would make a great hedge to CNBC on Wednesday. “There is a plan for crypto, and it clearly leads the race against gold right now. It would be a very good inflation hedge, I think. I would prefer it to gold right now.
ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, a tracker of bitcoin futures contracts that speculate on the future price, saw a nearly 5-percent increase in trading on Tuesday.
The crypto market is not for everyone. Many bitcoin investors are looking for an ETF that tracks spot price rather than futures.
Novice investors need to be familiar with terms such as “contango,” in which the commodity’s futures price is higher than its spot, and “backwardation,” that is the exact opposite.
Jodie Gunzberg (Managing Director of CoinDesk Indexes) stated that while more products are wonderful, I don’t see why you should invest in futures-based Bitcoin ETFs when it is possible to buy the asset in the spot marketplace.
It’s not impossible to hold for most investors. It is more like gold, which can be held easily. The cost is less than oil, but it’s still more expensive than gold.
It’s still a significant milestone for the emerging crypto industry, which has been long pushing for greater acceptance for bitcoin and other digital currencies on Wall Street.
