Bitcoin's sharp rise

Bitcoin and Ethereum surged on the news from the US. Bitcoin rose to $70,206 on Monday, adding $3,931 to its previous close. The world’s largest and most well-known cryptocurrency is up 82.3 percent from its yearly low of $38,505 on Jan. 23. Ether, a cryptocurrency connected to the Ethereum blockchain network, rose 13.3 percent to $3,500 on Monday. Why did it rise? A decision on Ethereum ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) applications in the US is expected this week. The decision, which is expected to be announced by May 23, was expected to reject the applications. Bloomberg’s ETF analysts announced on Twitter that they had renewed the approval probability, which they had previously announced as 25 percent, to 75 percent. Ethereum surged more than 13% in minutes after two well-followed Bloomberg ETF analysts significantly increased the odds of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approving spot ETH ETFs. Bitcoin also rose above $70,000. “James Seyffart and I are upping our odds of Ether ETF approval to 75% (up from 25%), we’ve been hearing rumors this afternoon that the SEC could do a 180 on this (an increasingly political issue), so now everyone is scrambling (like us) while everyone else assumed they would be rejected,” Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted.