Bitcoin surged over 5% to reach $67,000 during the Asian morning, outperforming the wider digital asset market, which has seen a 4% increase according to the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20). The BTC 2024 conference in Nashville will likely provide insights on the future of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his strong support for bitcoin, revealing that most of his wealth is in BTC during a conference speech on Thursday. Republican candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the event on Saturday.
On the other hand, Ether has been underperforming the broader crypto market following $152 million in outflows from ETH exchange-traded funds. The total outflow for ETFs since the beginning of the week stands at negative $178.68 million, mainly due to withdrawals from Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which recently transitioned to an ETF. CoinShares analysts compared this situation to the bitcoin ETF product launched earlier this year. Despite this, Ether saw a 2% increase in the past 24 hours, reaching $3,240.
Jersey City, New Jersey’s municipal pension plan is planning to invest in bitcoin through ETFs, as announced by Mayor Steven Fulop on social media. This decision follows a similar move made by a Wisconsin pension fund earlier in the year. The investment is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, with a planned allocation similar to the 2% made by Wisconsin’s state pension fund. The specific bitcoin ETF for the investment was not disclosed in Fulop’s post.
In terms of market data, centralized exchanges recorded a net inflow of nearly 50,000 BTC on Wednesday, with 42,000 coins deposited in wallets tied to Kraken. The majority of the inflow is believed to be from Mt. Gox moving coins to exchanges as part of reimbursing creditors, according to CryptoQuant data.
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