[Moo Brief] Bitcoin crosses $71,000: Is there a chance for more growth?

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have surpassed $71,000 amid a surge in spot ETFs, while Ethereum jumped 19% on Tuesday following a request from the US SEC for exchanges interested in trading ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to update their regulatory filings. Bitcoin soared to as high as $71,957, and ether reached $3,720.80—the highest levels last seen on April 9. On-chain indicators suggest the onset of a bull market, although some signals indicate possible topping patterns. A recent support bounce near $60,000 has sparked renewed investor interest, with Farside Investors reporting inflows of $950 million last week.

For a long time, Bitcoin advocates have touted it as the digital equivalent of gold - an asset uncorrelated with traditional markets, unconstrained by any government, and less likely to be influenced by external forces or factors. However, recent price fluctuations in Bitcoin have challenged these assertions.

So far this year, Bitcoin has surged over 58%, while the NASDAQ 100 Index, known for its concentration of technology stocks, has posted an 11% gain. According to Bloomberg, the two have moved in an increasingly correlated manner: The 90-day correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and the NASDAQ 100 has ascended to 0.46, marking the highest level since late August of the previous year.

"People are refocused on crypto as a growth asset or an asset that represents network value," said Joshua Lim, co-founder of trading firm Arbelos Markets. "The ability of it as a technology and transfer of value mechanism, and that means that it's gonna be more correlated to other assets that are also pretty growthy like Nasdaq, tech equities, those sorts of things.”