On Valentine's Day, investors expressed their love for all things crypto by trading up -- substantially, in numerous cases -- the prices of digital coins and tokens, plus the securities of companies associated with digital money.
Leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH -0.40%) was a beneficiary, as it was sailing 5.4% higher in late afternoon trading. While that gain was impressive, it didn't hold a candle to crypto mining equipment specialist Canaan (CAN -1.74%), whose American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) closed the day almost 32% higher. Behind Canaan, miner TeraWulf (WULF -0.80%) rose by more than 12%.
The Bitcoin Effect
Bitcoin (BTC -2.01%) is the world's first cryptocurrency, and a decade-and-a-half after its introduction it's still by far the most influential one. When it does well, more often than not other coins and tokens, plus cryptocurrency mining companies, tend to fall in lockstep.
Happily for holders of those assets, Bitcoin was quite the standout on Wednesday. After a bit of a slump Tuesday it again leapt the $50,000 mark, settling comfortably at just shy of $52,000 late in the day. The stream of investment into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has shown no sign of ebbing, and what's good for those securities is grand for their foundational asset.
Other factors are keeping the buy fire burning. Wednesday morning, online crypto news outlet Coindesk.com reported that European Union (E.U.) officials had drafted and circulated a document on an upcoming meeting of the E.U.'s financial services committee. This event, scheduled to take place in April, will concern cryptocurrency regulation in the 27-country economic bloc.
According to Coindesk, the paper outlines discussion points for the meeting. These include topics such as licensing and the implementation of the recently enacted Markets in Crypto Assets set of laws. Most intriguingly, there is mention of a digital euro; presumably this would be the "official" E.U.-wide cryptocurrency.
A spot of optimism
The E.U. document is only the latest in a string of indications that top regulators around the world are not only taking cryptos seriously, they are also accepting that these assets are part of the fabric of their economies. As these assets become more accepted and entrenched, we can also see markets like Europe adopting the latest crypto innovations.
Which leads to a question: Are spot crypto ETFs about to start being developed overseas too?
I think it's more than likely. There's a curiosity and hunger for crypto around the world, yet a major stumbling block remains the software and tech know-how required to simply transact in coins and tokens. At a stroke, spot ETFs remove this requirement, as they are securities easily traded on exchanges. We are only at the beginning of the spot crypto ETF revolution.
