MinersMarket.ca - Bitcoin slid on Friday to end an otherwise momentous week for the cryptocurrency, with the launch of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. after a yearslong battle for institutional acceptance of the asset.
The price of bitcoin dropped 5.79% to $43,830.28, according to Coin Metrics, giving back gains from earlier this week and pulling most of the crypto market into the red. On Thursday, it briefly surged to $49,058.48, its highest level since December 2021. For the week, it finished slightly lower by 0.01%.
Meanwhile, ether slipped -1.02%, trimming earlier gains. It rose 15% for the week, its first winning week in three and its best week since March 2023. Investors rotated into ether and out of bitcoin following the widely expected U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval of bitcoin ETFs. On Thursday it reached highs not seen since May 2022.
“In our view, the crypto market has already moved to the next narrative, with ETH rallying more than bitcoin, likely on the expectation that crypto’s second largest token could also see an ETF approval,” Alex Saunders, an analyst at Citi, said in a note Friday.