Crypto ETF issuer and asset manager BlackRock announced on Wednesday the expansion of its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) to include five new blockchain ecosystems: Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Polygon. 

Initially launched on the Ethereum network in March 2024, BUIDL rapidly gained traction among investors, becoming the largest tokenized fund globally regarding assets under management (AUM) within just 40 days.

BNY Mellon To Custody BUIDL

The expansion will allow BUIDL to interact with more blockchain-based financial products and infrastructures. BlackRock aims to enhance accessibility for investors, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and digital asset firms, enabling them to leverage BUIDL within the ecosystems of their choice.

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Carlos Domingo, CEO and co-founder of Securitize, the firm responsible for tokenizing BUIDL, emphasized the importance of this multi-chain approach in Wednesday’s press release by saying: 

Real-world asset tokenization is scaling, and we’re excited to have these blockchains added to increase the potential of the BUIDL ecosystem. With these new chains we’ll start to see more investors looking to leverage the underlying technology to increase efficiencies on all the things that until now have been hard to do.

With the addition of these blockchains, BlackRock aims to provide increased options and access for investors, allowing developers to build applications that integrate seamlessly with the BUIDL fund.

BNY Mellon, which recently received a Bitcoin and crypto custody license for institutional services, will play a key role in this initiative as the fund administrator and custodian for BUIDL. 

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Achieves Unprecedented Growth

On the crypto ETF front, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, has reached a remarkable milestone, surpassing the $40 billion mark in assets under management (AUM) just two weeks after hitting $30 billion. 

This achievement comes in a record 211 days, shattering the previous record of 1,253 days held by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG). 

IBIT is now positioned in the top 1% of all ETFs by assets and at just 10 months old, it has outperformed all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past decade, according to ETF expert Eric Balchunas.

Balchunas further highlighted that Bitcoin ETFs collectively have crossed the $90 billion asset threshold, following a significant $6 billion surge in the past few days. 

This increase comprises $1 billion in new inflows and $5 billion in market appreciation. The growing popularity of Bitcoin ETFs indicates that they are now 72% of the way toward surpassing gold ETFs in total assets.

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The rise in Bitcoin ETF assets has coincided with a surge in investor confidence, particularly following Donald Trump’s recent victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential elections. 

This political shift has positively influenced market sentiment, contributing to a broader uptick in cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin, in particular, has experienced a substantial rally, climbing over 24% to reach a record high of $93,000 in the past week alone.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

The Bitcoin price has finally broken out of resistance and is on a journey to the $320,000 threshold, according to a crypto analyst. Notably, the Bitcoin price has now returned into a full bullish sentiment, with the crypto fear and greed index now pointing to extreme greed.

In a recent technical analysis, crypto analyst Gert van Lagen identified a bullish pattern in Bitcoin’s price chart, specifically pointing to a confirmed breakout of the classic ‘cup-and-handle’ pattern formation that has essentially kicked off a bullish Wave 5 run.

Bitcoin Price Sets Sights On $320,000 As Wave 5 Begins

Bitcoin’s price action has been nothing short of impressive in the past few days. Notably, the Bitcoin price has created multiple all-time highs in quick succession, as many investors start to pour in. This sustained demand has created successive bullish candles on both the daily and weekly charts, illustrating a continued strong upward momentum.

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Interestingly, these bullish candle formations have validated what crypto analyst Gert van Lagen called the start of a sub-wave 5 formation. This wave, which is known to be bullish, is expected to be the final sub-wave formation in a larger Elliot wave uptrend that has been in play since January 2023. 

Supporting the possibility of the wave 5 formation, technical analysis of the Bitcoin price formation shows that the recent price rally has seen Bitcoin breaking out of a cup-and-handle formation. This pattern, which is known to be bullish, has been in formation since 2022. The ‘cup’ portion of this pattern began forming in early 2022 and eventually ended with Bitcoin’s peak above $73,700 in March 2024. The subsequent consolidation phase, which lasted until October, represents the ‘handle’ segment of the pattern.

In addition to this, Bitcoin has managed to break free from what van Lagen described as a ‘base 4 step-wise formation,’ effectively shaking off a bear trap. With this breakout now confirmed, van Lagen’s analysis points to a projected target range between $220,000 and $320,000. This range marks what he considers a ‘major sell line,’ which is a zone where profit-taking might intensify as Bitcoin reaches these upper limits.

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Current State Of BTC

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $89,500 with a market cap of $1.77 trillion and an all-time high of $89,864, having increased by about 10.5% in the past 24 hours. However, given this trend, this all-time high might not last long. The bullish sentiment and inflow surrounding Bitcoin has been so massive that investors don’t know when to take profit at the moment. The RSI is above 70 on every single timeframe from the daily to the yearly. This shows how strong the buying momentum is at the moment.

Nevertheless, the momentum is expected to continue, with the next target at $90,000 and another at $100,000. A move to Gert van Lagen’s target of $220,000 to $320,000 will represent a 145% and 255% increase, respectively, from the current price.

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com