Bitcoin Above $7,000 as Positive Momentum Continues Following Yesterday's Market Upswing

July 17: Crypto markets are largely continuing to build on a major upswing that kicked off yesterday, July 16, according to Coin360 data, with virtually all of the top ten coins by market cap in the green.

Bitcoin is trading around $7,209, up a little over 8 percent over the 24-hour period to press time.

Bitcoin has now brought its weekly and monthly gains into net positive territory, which are at around 6 and 2 percent respectively.

Top altcoin Ethereum is trading around $494 to press time, up almost 4 percent over the past 24 hours to press time.

While the coin's strong growth yesterday has secured a positive weekly percentage gain of a strong 8 percent, Ethereum's monthly performance is still almost 6 percent in the negative.

Anonymity-oriented altcoin Monero is the strongest performer of the top twenty cryptocurrencies over the 24-hour period, up almost 9 percent and trading around $143 to press time.

Total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is now at around $286 billion to press time.

Consolidation of yesterday's significant market growth is likely still buoyed by yesterday's bullish news that the $6.3 trillion asset management heavyweight BlackRock - the world's largest provider of exchange traded-funds - is beginning to assess potential involvement in Bitcoin.

Neu-Ner's excitement comes following his remark yesterday that BlackRock's potential entry into crypto would make 2017's bull run come to "Look like a warm-up" - echoing the widespread narrative that major institutional interest is set to skyrocket crypto valuations.

Positive news has continued to flood in today, with Japanese internet giant SBI Holdings formally launching the public version of its crypto exchange VCTRADE today, a triumph in the context of increasingly stringent regulatory demands for tightened security among the country's operators.