Bitcoin Hits Highest Level in Two Weeks as Big Institutions Buy-in

Innovative payment network and a new kind of money, Bitcoin rose to its highest level since Feb. 23 on Tuesday amid continued interest in digital assets from big institutions. The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 3.6% to around $53,761. Rival Ether also reached its highest level in two weeks, gaining 3.7% in the wake of Chinese beauty app Meitu Inc. saying it had bought not just Bitcoin, but Ether as well.

“Bitcoin and Ethereum bullishness are back as more big-money bets keep flowing into cryptocurrencies,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “Institutional interest still seems strong.” While Bitcoin and Ether are still well off their record highs of $58,350 and $1,975 respectively, they’ve climbed back from a drop in late February.

More and more big players continue to express interest, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently confirming that it’s restarting a crypto trading desk, and billionaire investor Dan Loeb last week saying he’d done a “deep dive” into crypto. Bitcoin is in a “strong position” to trade at $75,000 “even as momentum and speculation have been clobbered,” Evercore ISI technical strategist Rich Ross wrote in a note Monday,

Also helping sentiment, according to Oanda’s Moya: Bitcoin technology and solutions provider NYDIG announced on Monday a $200 million growth capital round led by strategic partners Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual, Soros Fund Management, and FS Investments.

Bessemer Venture Partners and FinTech Collective, who led the two prior funding rounds for NYDIG, were also significant participants, according to a statement. “NYDIG will be working with these firms on Bitcoin-related strategic initiatives spanning investment management, insurance, banking, clean energy, and philanthropy,” Robert Gutmann, co-founder, and chief executive officer of NYDIG, said in the statement.

“In the months and quarters ahead, look out for an explosion of innovation in Bitcoin products and services delivered by NYDIG, in partnership with our new investors.” NYDIG also said that life, annuity, and property/casualty insurers now own more than $1 billion of direct and indirect Bitcoin exposure held on its institutional custody platform.