Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies continued to push into bullish territory on Tuesday, as Bitcoin rose to a three-week high.
The virtual currency surged 4.36% to $7,024.80 on the Bitfinex exchange, as of 8:20 AM ET (12:20 GMT).
Cryptocurrencies, overall, were higher, with the coin market cap of total market capitalization at $228 billion at the time of writing, compared to $217 billion on Monday.
Ethereum, the second-biggest alternative currency by market cap, rose 3.88% to $287.58, while XRP, the third-largest virtual currency, increased 5.35% to $0.34741 and Litecoin was at $60.858, up 5.60%.
Virtual coins were bolstered on Friday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it would review a decision to reject the applications of Bitcoin exchange traded funds. Last week the SEC rejected the applications from nine companies to list their Bitcoin ETF funds, citing concerns about fraud and manipulation of bitcoin markets.
In other news, 84% of executives interviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers have blockchain initiatives in progress, a study from the auditing firm found. Around 25% have live blockchain programs or have launched pilot projects. The financial sector was considered as the leader of blockchain, with 46% saying it would develop the most in the next three to five years.
The study, which examined 600 executives in 15 countries, also found regulatory uncertainty and lack of trust as the biggest barriers to blockchain adoption by companies.
“Businesses tell us that they don’t want to be left behind by blockchain, even if at this early stage of its development, concerns on trust and regulation remain,” said PwC blockchain leader Steve Davies. “Blockchain by its very definition should engender trust. But in reality, companies confront trust issues at nearly every turn.”