Crypto Markets Surge After BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Calls Bitcoin ‘Digital Gold’

Crypto markets continued to rally on Tuesday after Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, said he was wrong about Bitcoin, and referred to it as “digital gold”.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC)climbed more than 1% over the past 24 hours to last change hands for $64,348, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum (ETH) by almost 2% and is trading for $3,461. Solana (SOL) was up 4% and Polkadot (DOT) is up by 0.5%.

On Monday, Fink in an interview with CNBC TV host Jim Cramer said he was a “proud skeptic” before changing his perspective on Bitcoin. He now considers Bitcoin a legitimate financial instrument offering potentially uncorrelated returns.

“It is a legitimate financial instrument that allows you to maybe have uncorrelated type of returns,” he said. “ I believe it is an instrument that you invest in when you’re more frightened, though. It is an instrument when you believe countries are debasing their currency by excess deficits, and some countries are.”

BlackRock’s IBIT is the world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF with inflows over $18 billion, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $9.7 billion inflows, according to Farside data.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, meme coins led the gains. PEPE (PEPE) surged by 30%, Dogwifhat (WIF) climbed by 24%, and FLOKI (FLOKI) rose by 22%.

Data from CoinGlass indicates that in the past 24 hours, 68,869 traders were liquidated, amounting to total liquidations of $213.14 million. This includes $127 million in short positions and $86 million in long positions.

Michael van de Poppe, CEO, MN Trading noted that BTC is back in the range.

“As long as $60K holds, I’m expecting to see a continuation towards the all-time high in Q3,” he tweeted.

Mt. Gox Funds

Crypto exchange Kraken on Tuesday said that it had received funds from Mt. Gox creditors.

“We have successfully received creditor funds (BTC and BCH) from the Mt. Gox Trustee. While we will work to distribute funds as quickly as possible, please anticipate 7-14 days for funds to be credited to your account. The amount you will receive has been determined by the Trustee, and we will distribute according to their instructions,” revealed an email.

On Tuesday, Mt. Gox moved about 92,000 BTC, worth $5.8 billion, to four different wallets, as per Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics firm. The wallet still holds around 138,985 BTC, valued at over $8.85 billion.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, believes that Mt. Gox “may be preparing for repayment.”

Political Developments

Just days after the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, the former president announced that crypto-friendly Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) would be his vice-presidential nominee.

Known for his strong pro-crypto stance, Vance has voted to repeal SAB 121, criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the Debt Box incident, and introduced a 2023 bill to protect crypto firms and gun manufacturers from discrimination.

Although Vance has not disclosed any recent crypto holdings, his 2022 Senate financial disclosure revealed that he held between $100,000 and $250,000 in Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market surged on Tuesday. Futures linked to the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.2%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 0.1%.