- England captain Stokes back from injury for second Pakistan Test
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone flights anger North
- Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
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- Smith experiment as Test opener over, Green out of India series
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Dodgers crush Mets 9-0 in MLB playoff series opener
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone tensions soar
- Cummins back, Marsh and Head out of Pakistan ODI series
- Shanghai stocks swing after stimulus briefing as most of Asia rises
- New Zealand's Latham promises 'no fear' as he takes charge for India Tests
- Kyrgios vows to 'shut up' doubters with December comeback
- Public hearings start into death of Brit by Russian nerve agent
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- 'Stolen satire' feeds US election misinformation
- Rookie McCarty captures first PGA Tour title in Black Desert Championship
- Australia all-rounder Green ruled out of India Test series
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- UK FM to attend EU foreign affairs talks for first time in 2 years
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- Hezbollah drone strike kills four, wounds dozens at Israeli base
- China says launches military drills around Taiwan
- Stewart leads Liberty past Lynx to level WNBA Finals
- England return to winning ways in Nations League, Austria thrash Norway
- UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL 'may constitute a war crime'
- Ravens outlast Commanders while Bucs batter Saints in NFL
- Dozens hurt in Israel as Hezbollah claims drone strike
- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
Bitcoin soars past $40,000 on optimism for US trading approval
Bitcoin on Monday rose past $40,000 for the first time since May last year, boosted by hopes that the United States will soon allow broader trading of the world's biggest cryptocurrency.
The digital asset has skyrocketed this year, gaining nearly 150 percent, with expectations growing that US regulators will allow the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
These would track the price of bitcoin and allow the public to invest in the currency without directly purchasing it.
"This idea that institutional money in US capital markets is going to have a legitimate, compliant avenue... the expectations are extremely high that that's really going to take bitcoin to new levels," Lucy Guzmararian, founder of Token Bay Capital, told Bloomberg.
Bitcoin was trading above $40,700 at around 0400 GMT Monday.
The currency remains well below its record value of almost $69,000 in 2020, but the rally marks a recovery following the high-profile scandals and collapses that rocked the crypto industry.
FTX, the world's second-biggest crypto exchange, dramatically went under last year, and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried faces up to 110 years in prison for what prosecutors described as "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history".
And last month, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance -- the world's biggest crypto exchange -- after he and the company pleaded guilty to sweeping money laundering violations.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is re-examining a bitcoin ETF application from asset manager Grayscale, as well as requests from other groups including BlackRock and ArkInvest.
Its first decision is expected to be on Ark Invest's application, by January 10 at the latest.
Bitcoin has also been boosted by hopes that the US Federal Reserve has wrapped up its hiking programme and may cut interest rates next year.
The asset's value has also been driven by the supply crunch expected next year because of an event called "halving".
Bitcoin is created -- or "mined" -- as a reward when powerful computers solve complex problems.
But the amount of bitcoin is limited and every four years, the reward is halved. The next "halving" is due in May 2024.
F.Dubois--AMWN