Bitcoin ushered a modern day gold rush for investors, but in the last few years the cryptocurrency titan has fallen.
For example, as ESSENCE previously pointed out, crypto giant Sam Bankman-Fried started facing major trouble last year as his company FTX continued to battle money challenges, namely bankruptcy. On Nov. 2 the disgraced tech founder was found guilty on seven counts, including defrauding customers and investors. It was determined that he was a part of wide conspiracy to take more than $8 billion from FTX customers to invest into his other company, Bahamian real estate, and political donations.
This bombshell case blew up the once impenetrable investment vehicle that many of us, including ultra-wealthy celebs embraced. Now, it has rebounded more than 120% and is valued at $40,000, a number it hadn’t hit in 18 months. But why?
“Perhaps the most important are signs that major investment firms are set to get regulatory approval to offer spot bitcoin exchange traded funds — a pooled investment security that can be bought and sold like stocks,” according to a CBS News analysis. “Federal regulators are expected to give the green light for several bitcoin ETFs as early as January, which could make investing in crypto more accessible to investors.”
Yiannis Giokas, a senior product director at Moody’s told the outlet: “As more and more managers venture into the bitcoin spot ETF space, more retail and institutional investors, even the more conservative ones, will feel a higher degree of comfort investing in this space. Bitcoin hit $40,000 for the first time in 2021, and every time it was followed by a bull run, so it’s a logical expectation from the markets that another run is on its way.”