On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin approached $68,400, hitting a peak not seen since July and igniting a surge in the cryptocurrency market.
TakeAway Points:
- On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin got close to $68,400, the highest level since July.
- Gains in Coinbase and Marathon Digital, along with other cryptocurrency-related stocks, were spurred by the rise.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. government is stopping imports of some DJI drones from entering the U.S., according to the Chinese drone maker.
Bitcoin price surges
Bitcoin is up more than 9% over the past week and ether is up about 7%. Other popular coins have also rallied, with Solana up close to 10% in the past seven days and Dogecoin up 15%.
The gains have made their way to crypto-pegged stocks. Digital asset exchange Coinbase climbed 7% on Wednesday, bringing its three-day rally to 19%. The stock is at its highest since August.
Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms also moved higher on Wednesday.
One reason for bitcoin’s 53% gain so far this year is a host of new spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds that hit the market in January, welcoming in a host of new investors. Ether ETFs followed in July.
Investors have bought $1.2 billion in ETF shares in the past three days, bringing total holdings to more than $63 billion. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has accounted for more than 30% of the new purchases.
Samara Cohen, chief investment officer of ETF and index investments at BlackRock, saidrecently that 80% of buyers of IBIT are direct investors. Of those, 75% have never owned a BlackRock ETF, she said.
“We went into this journey with the expectation that we needed to educate ETF investors on crypto and on bitcoin specifically,” Cohen said. “As it turns out, we have done a lot of education of crypto investors on the benefits of the ETP wrapper.”
US Customs stops DJI drone imports
The U.S. government is stopping imports of some DJI drones from entering the U.S., according to the Chinese drone maker.
In a previously unreported letter seen by Reuters, DJI notified distributors that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is citing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in withholding some drones from being imported into the U.S.
DJI, which sells more than half of all drones in the U.S., said no forced labor is involved at any stage of its manufacturing process. It said it was providing Customs with documentation verifying its compliance with UFLPA.
DJI said in its letter the action appeared to be “part of a broader initiative by the Department of Homeland Security to scrutinize the origins of products, particularly in the case of Chinese made drones.”
The letter called the claims “unsubstantiated and categorically false, but the law gives them the authority to withhold goods without any tangible evidence”.
U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns that DJI drones also pose data transmission, surveillance and national security risks, something the company rejects.
Votes to bar DJI drones
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar new drones from DJI from operating in the U.S. The bill awaits U.S. Senate action.
Last month, the Commerce Department said it was seeking comments on whether to impose restrictions on Chinese drones that would effectively ban them in the U.S. — similar to proposed restrictions on Chinese vehicles.
“We’re looking at drones that have Chinese and Russian equipment, chips, and software in them,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
UFLPA, effective in June 2022, was designed to combat what the U.S. government calls forced labor abuses directed at Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region. It prohibits U.S. imports of goods produced wholly or in part in the Xinjiang or produced by certain entities.
