Bitcoin hits new all-time high above $65k on strength of ETF debut

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has hit a new all-time high above $65,000.

The crypto broke above its previous high of $64,889 reached in April.

Bitcoin is currently changing hands for around $65,607, up 4.2% over the past 24 hours. The latest rally pushed bitcoin’s year-to-date terms to 122%, according to CoinDesk data.

The largest cryptocurrency appears to have gotten a push on Tuesday from the launch of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the first exchange-traded fund approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to invest in bitcoin futures.

Indeed, the new fund, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker $BITO, garnered a first-day trading volume of more than $1 billion, ranking it among the most successful launches of all time.

In the coming weeks, several more bitcoin futures-based ETFs may debut in the U.S., opening up the potential for savvy U.S. crypto investors to partake in what is known as a “cash and carry” arbitrage strategy.

These ETFs would buy bitcoin futures contracts, on regulated venues such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), in an attempt to replicate the cryptocurrency’s price performance instead of purchasing actual bitcoin.