Bitcoin is now estimated to have on-chain daily volume of $46.4 billion, which is more than credit card giants Visa and Mastercard process each day.
Visa processes approximately $38.9 billion in daily transactions, and Mastercard processes around $24.7 billion, according to data from a recent CME report. The surging crypto market has sent bitcoin’s value up almost 50% year to date and cemented the cryptocurrency as a valid payments contender.
The recent influx into bitcoin was largely due to regulatory approval and the subsequent launch of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in January. A few months later, bitcoin hit an all-time high, just after the latest bitcoin halving.
Regulatory Concerns
In recent months, however, crypto enthusiasm has waned. Bitcoin has taken a step back in part because of concerns about challenges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC has announced actions against Coinbase, Robinhood, Binance, and others, arguing that many of the crypto tokens on their platforms should be considered securities. According to the commission, that means most crypto exchanges have been operating as unregistered securities brokers.
Aligning the Stars
That line of thinking was one of the reasons it appeared the SEC would not approve the nascent ether ETFs anytime soon. However, in a major win for the crypto community, ether ETFs are now just days from approval. Though the SEC didn’t give clear reasons for its course reversal on the new ETFs, it’s another positive sign for crypto in what has been a banner year.
Crypto has also taken center stage in U.S. presidential election campaigns. Digital assets received a boost from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent switch from crypto critic to advocate.
Trump’s switch resulted in endorsements from Silicon Valley investors in what billionaire Mark Cuban described as strictly “a bitcoin play.”
“You can’t align the stars any better for a BTC price acceleration,” Cuban posted on X. “”How high can the price go. Way higher than you think. Remember, the market for BTC is global. And the supply has a final limit of 21 million BTC, with unlimited fractionalization.”