Bitcoin and Ether rose during Thursday afternoon trading in Hong Kong, while the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were mixed. Investors remained optimistic as new institutional players like Fidelity prepare to file their Bitcoin ETF applications.

See related article: Weekly Market Wrap: Bitcoin remains above US$30,000 as market shrugs off Prime Trust’s cease order

Bitcoin, Ether rise, top 10 cryptos mixed, as Fidelity prepares Bitcoin ETF application

Bitcoin rose 1.07% from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong to US$30,428. Ether gained 1.2% in the same timeframe, to trade at US$1,849.

The world’s first currency briefly touched US$30,465 during yesterday’s session, as risk appetite remained strong after numerous large institutions led by BlackRock filed their spot Bitcoin ETF applications in the past weeks.

Asset management giant Fidelity is preparing to submit its own spot Bitcoin ETF application, a source familiar with the matter told The Block Tuesday.

“This move is seen as a significant step towards legitimizing cryptocurrencies and could bring in new institutional investors into the market,” wrote Kadan Stadelmann, chief technical officer of blockchain infrastructure development firm Komodo, in a statement shared with Forkast.

“Fidelity’s entry into the cryptocurrency market is expected to bring in more institutional money, which could drive up demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This move is also expected to increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies by traditional financial institutions, further legitimizing them as an investment asset class.”

Solana’s Sol token was the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10, rising 1.32% to US$16.27. Dogecoin was the day’s biggest loser, down 1.91% to US$0.06297.

The total crypto market capitalization over the past 24 hours rose 0.03% to US$1.17 trillion and market volume decreased 21.30% to US$29.58 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin dominance rose to 50.4%, which marks an over two-year high. April 25, 2021, was the last time Bitcoin Dominance was over 50% when Bitcoin was trading above US$53,000.

Bitcoin NFT sales rise, Ethereum NFT sales fall with Azuki Elementals

The Forkast 500 NFT index fell 0.64% to 2,848.52 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and declined 2.22% during the week. 

Bitcoin’s 24-hour non-fungible token sales rose 111.14% to US$3.05 million, as sales for $FRAM BRC-20 NFTs rose 62.94% to US$806,351.

Ethereum’s 24-hour NFT sales fell 65.84% to US$23.49 million, as sales for Azuki decreased 41.7% to US$3.89 million after collectors were disappointed in the release of the new Azuki Elementals collection. Despite selling out within the first 15 minutes on Tuesday, investors criticized the collection for looking almost identical to the original Azuki collection. 24-hour sales for Azuki Elementals fell 56.13% to US$3.62 million.

Among the Forkast Labs NFT indexes, the Forkast CAR NFT Composite was the only one in the black, inching up 0.43% to 990.62 points.

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• Source: https://forkast.news/bitcoin-ether-rise-investors-upbeat-fidelity-prepares-spot-bitcoin-etf-application/