Bitcoin Tops $31,000, Ethereum Nears $2,000 as Crypto Rally Continues

Bitcoin's rally continued on Monday as the coin jumped back above $31,000 for the second time over the past week. The largest digital asset by market cap was trading for $31,052 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.

That's a 1.8% 24-hour jump. The asset is also up over 2% in the past seven days, with a 17% gain over the past 14 days.

Bitcoin first broke past $31,000—for the first time in over one year—two weeks ago thanks in part to renewed institutional investor interest. A high-profile Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) application from BlackRock and the launch of a new crypto exchange called EDX Markets were among the triggers, according to experts.

Bitcoin dropped below that mark in recent days and was holding firmly above $30,000 per coin aside from a brief dip on Friday. But the price is now comfortably above $31,000 again.

Investment firm CoinShares said on Monday that institutional investors are continuing to plug money into digital asset products, with $125 million worth of inflows over the past week. And most of that money is focused on Bitcoin, it added.

Institutional investors are interested in the digital asset market because major Wall Street firms like BlackRock—the world's largest asset manager—and Fidelity have applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot Bitcoin ETF.

A spot Bitcoin ETF, which allows investors to buy shares that track the price of an asset, does not yet exist in the U.S. However, the flurry of applications potentially show that traditional investors are hungry for such a product.

The largest digital asset by market cap isn't the only cryptocurrency up today: Ethereum, the second largest, is fast closing in on $2,000 per coin, CoinGecko data shows. It is right now trading for $1,961, a 2.3% climb over the last 24 hours.

If it hits $2,000, it will be the first time since May that the coin topped that mark. Ethereum remains down nearly 60% from its peak price of $4,878 from November 2021, according to CoinGecko, while Bitcoin is down 55% from its own all-time high from the same month.

And Pepe, a newer meme coin which launched in April, is one of the best-performing digital assets today: it is up 16.7% in the past day and 15.1% in the past week, trading hands for $0.00000182.

The asset has surged in value since its launch—with one lucky investor managing to turn $250 into $1.02 million worth of the cryptocurrency in just four days amid its initial spike. However, Pepe has shed about 58% of its value since its April peak.