Yahoo Finance Cryptos up as Wells Fargo, JP Morgan register bitcoin fund
Cryptocurrencies were broadly up on Friday, having had less than stellar performances during the week, as it was reported that Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan (JPM) have registered a bitcoin fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cryptos had been down after the industry failed to win a change to tax reporting rules in the US, but perked up on Friday amid a slew of positive news.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was up 5.6% to trade at $47,215 (£34,688). Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second largest crypto by market cap, gained about 7% and was trading at $3,216.
Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), already boosted by trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) saying a huge chunk of its revenue came from the joke token, was up 7%.
Read more: European stocks tick lower as UK retail sales drop
Wells Fargo is partnering with the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) a technology and financial services firm, and FS Investments on its offering. JPMorgan is also partnering with NYDIG.
Both will receive a percentage of sales through subsidiaries.
Even as regulators around the world crack down on cryptos, the industry is gaining mainstream acceptance.
Earlier this year JPMorgan had recommended that investors consider adding Bitcoin to their portfolio. It also allowed its clients access to six crypto funds in a span of three weeks.
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
Singapore's central bank it working to build a common platform where central banks could directly transfer funds across borders using central bank digital currencies.
Meanwhile, Coinbase (COIN), the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform that went public earlier this year, said it has received board approval to purchase over $500m of crypto.
We recently received board approval to purchase over $500M of crypto on our balance sheet to add to our existing holdings. And we'll be investing 10% of all profit going forward in crypto. I expect this percentage to keep growing over time as the cryptoeconomy matures.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 19, 2021
CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that the company will be investing 10% of all profit going forward in crypto.
The positive news around cryptos comes as "investors are finding opportunity in crypto as stocks are falling globally due to the significant outbreak of the Delta variant and its impact on growth outlook," Wael Makarem senior market strategist at broker Exness told Yahoo Finance UK.
"The momentum, and the fact that bitcoin, ethereum, ripple (XRP-USD), and the likes are still well below their all-time high, are making crypto more appealing at the moment."
Watch: What is bitcoin?
