With leading digital currencies like bitcoin already at their 2021 highs, digital investment products are also now bouncing back from the crypto winter.
The temporary crash of the oldest cryptocurrency to just over 16,000 dollars per bitcoin, bankruptcy of digital exchange FTX, arrest and conviction of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and billion-dollar fine for leading crypto exchange Binance in the U.S. must all by now seem like a bad dream to the aficionados of tokens and coins, and one that has little to do with the current realities of the scene.
Double-digit Increase in Value Since Start of Year.
By mid-February, the most important digital currencies had already pulled through the «crypto winter» that began in 2022 and returned to prices last seen in 2021. This year alone, bitcoin has gained 22 percent against the dollar, while Ether has advanced by more than 30 percent.
According to Coinshares, an international crypto investment provider, assets managed in digital assets have hit 67 billion dollars – their highest levels since December 2021.
New Bitcoin ETFs Shake Investors Up
That is due in no small measure to the deluge of new money flowing into various financial products related to crypto-assets since the start of the year. Digital investment products saw record weekly inflows, with new funds amounting to 5.2 billion dollars so far this year, according to Coinshare.
The provider, whose shares are listed on the Swedish stock exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, says the driver is newly authorized exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) on bitcoin. Working with American fund company ARK Invest, the Swiss fintech 21Shares was also present at this premiere.
After a rather hesitant start, around 2.4 billion dollars in new funds from investors was mobilized in the U.S. thanks to this initiative.
Launch of Large-scale Projects in Switzerland
According to Coinshares’ calculations, inflows in Switzerland were much more modest. Nevertheless, the scene here in this country is also in a serious state of flux. Projects that have been driven forward behind the scenes in recent months are now seeing the light of day, most recently the partnership between the Swiss postal bank PostFinance and Sygnum, one of the two licensed crypto banks in the country.
The two partners are hoping to have a Swiss retail audience of millions.
Meanwhile, other Swiss providers like Crypto Finance are spreading their wings abroad. Deutsche Boerse’s subsidiary has just received four new licenses for its business in Germany. Bitcoin Suisse, one of the other stalwarts of the domestic scene, has though shelved plans for a banking license due to the boom in tokens and coins. The Zug broker wants to fully benefit instead from the bull market in bitcoin & co.
