Investing.com – Bitcoin rose Thursday on renewed buying momentum following signs of rising institutional demand for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin rose 2.09% to $7,692.0 on the Bitfinex exchange.
The move higher in bitcoin comes as reports Wednesday suggested Fidelity, one the biggest Wall Street firms, was eyeing a move into the crypto space, planning to create products that would push the market for bitcoin to the "next level."
Wealth manager Fidelity is planning to create a suite of products that would push the market for bitcoin to the next level, Business Insider reported, citing an internal job ad.
It is not the first time the lure of cryptocurrencies has attracted demand from some of the biggest firms on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) in April was reported to be looking into launching a bitcoin trading desk.
Other Wall Street banks, however, appear less optimistic on bitcoin. JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon on Wednesday tactfully avoided being drawn into a discussion about bitcoin but did urged investors to "just beware." Dimon claimed bitcoin was a "fraud," in September last year but backtracked a few months later, saying he regretted those comments.
Demand for cryptos inched higher as the total market cap of cryptocurrencies rose to about $345 billion, at the time of writing, from about $339 billion Wednesday, underpinning other large-cap cryptos.
Ripple XRP rose 1.20% to $0.67644 on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum fell 0.55% to $602.62.
Bitcoin Cash fell 0.26% to $1,135.00, while Litecoin fell 0.05% to $120.30.