Bitcoin Price Surges as JPMorgan and Others Launch Crypto Projects

Bitcoin reached its highest level since June 2022 on Friday (June 23).

The cryptocurrency’s value went as high as $31,410 before edging lower later in the day, Bloomberg reported Friday.

With that gain, bitcoin topped its previous peak for 2023 so far, which was $31,013; boosted its value by almost 90% since the beginning of the year; and reached its highest point in 12 months, according to the report.

The digital currency’s value is still less than half that of its all-time high of nearly $69,000, but it’s far from the extinction that many had expected after the crises and scandals seen in the cryptocurrency space.

The report attributed bitcoin’s climb partly to its enthusiasts’ belief that it offers an alternative to the current difficult macroeconomic environment.

It also pointed to three crypto-related projects recently announced by institutional players: BlackRock’s seeking approval from regulators for a U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund; the launch of a new crypto exchange called EDX Markets that is backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets and Charles Schwab; and JPMorgan Chase’s debut of euro-denominated payments using its JPM Coin.

The report also noted that investors might be jumping into the bitcoin market because of their fear of missing out as they saw the price of the digital currency rising again.

EDX Markets went live Tuesday (June 20), promoting itself as a marketplace “designed to enable safe and compliant trading of digital assets through trusted intermediaries.”

“We are committed to bringing the best of traditional finance to cryptocurrency markets, with an infrastructure built by market experts to embed key institutional best practices,” EDX CEO Jamil Nazarali said in a press release announcing the launch.

The news that a half-dozen top financial firms were creating EDX Markets was reported in September 2022. PYMNTS noted at the time that the project showed the firms’ faith in the crypto market and could offer a boost to the industry.

Another project that Bloomberg cited as a contributor to bitcoin’s recent rise, JPMorgan Chase’s euro-denominated transactions with its blockchain-based JPM Coin, went live Wednesday (June 21).

The benefits of this offering include payments that operate around the clock, payments that are executed more quickly than traditional transactions, and the ability to initiate payments that are not yet due, Bloomberg reported Friday.