Bitcoin price soars as UK votes to recognise crypto

Bitcoin has soared today as the UK parliament votes to recognise crypto as a regulated financial instrument.

On Wednesday the combined cryptocurrency market cap jumped over 5% and regained ground above the $1tn mark.

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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is standing at $20,223 as of the time of writing, a change of 5.6% over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH-USD) jumped over 14% in the past week to $1,508, over 12% in the past 24 hours alone.

Other altcoins fared well with Cardano (ADA-USD) up over 11% in the past 24 hours to $0.39.

Read more: Could Rishi Sunak make the UK a global crypto hub?

In the midst of speculation that prime minister Rishi Sunak will make Britain a crypto hub and world leader in digital asset innovation, the UK's parliament voted to recognise cryptocurrencies as regulated financial instruments and products.

The House of Commons met on Tuesday to debate the proposed Financial Services and Markets Bill, which covers the UK's post-Brexit economic strategy.

Watch: 'Bitcoin will eat into global finance until it's $1m per coin' | The Crypto Mile

This bill was introduced during Sunak's time as the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer when he served in Boris Johnson's administration.

During the sitting Andrew Griffith, Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs, put forward an amendment to include crypto assets in the scope of regulated financial services in the UK.

Members of Parliament voted to include the amendment in the bill that already includes measures to extend existing regulations to stablecoins, a digital asset whose price is pegged to US dollars or gold.

Griffith has been the UK's Financial Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister since September 2022.

During the parliamentary meeting, he said: "The substance here is to treat them crypto like other forms of financial assets and not to prefer them, but also to bring them within the scope of regulation for the first time."

Griffith added that the new clause 14 in the bill, "clarifies that crypto assets could be brought within the scope of the existing provisions" of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 relating to regulated financial activities in the UK.

The bill has two more stages to pass in the UK's House of Commons, the report stage and the 3rd reading.

It will then pass to the House of Lords and then if no amendments are needed will then go through final stages before becoming law by the Royal Assent of King Charles.

Read more: 'Too late to use crypto as hedge against falling pound' says BitBoy Crypto

Bitcoin usually moves in a positive correlation with equities, such as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq (^IXIC).

However, the recent crypto rally over the past 24 hours was counter to US and European equities slumping, with Alphabet (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) dipped in the post-market after worse-than-expected results.

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