Bitcoin back in the limelight

Bitcoin blew by $43,000 at about 8 a.m. (EST) on Monday.

Right before 8 a.m. came reports based on SEC filings that Tesla has disclosed it has bought $1.5 billion worth of BTC.

By 8:40 a.m. BTC was up 12% over the prior 24 hours, moving closer to $44,000. Where this new all-time high trajectory settles is anybody’s guess considering the momentum suddenly injected.

BTC's previous all-time high (of just below $42,000) was set on Jan. 8.

Only two-and-a-half weeks ago, the largest crypto slid all the way to $28,845 following a market-cap eviscerating stretch that followed a spectacular start to the year.

After a listless, sideways slog through the mid-$30,000 range, there's now pulsating voltage – just in the 15 minutes it took to ferret out some information on the Tesla reveal, BTC shot up several hundred dollars.

"We invested an aggregate $1.5 billion in Bitcoin … and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term," the Tesla corporate filing said, per Decrypt.

The filing added that Tesla expects to accept Bitcoin as payment.

One last quick check of a pair of popular crypto media sites revealed messages from both – apologizing for being at overcapacity.

Early on Monday morning, Cardano (ADA) fell slightly, losing about 1% over 24 hours. That was as of about 7 a.m. (EST).

Merely a power nap, as it turned out. By 9 a.m., ADA woke up. So much for its short-lived respite to start this week, this after last week's raucous 92% rise.

With $21.7 billion in market capitalization, ADA is now the third largest crypto, not counting stablecoin Tether, and not ignoring fast-moving Polkadot with its swollen market cap of $21.5 billion.

The Cardano smart contract platform has crested on the momentum of its deftly choreographed “Goguen” phase, launched this past December, integrating a multi-currency ledger and more sought-after types of smart contracts that appeal to institutional investors, said one crypto fund manager (Benzinga).

Pork belly futures no longer trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. But Ethereum futures now do.

As of early this morning, some 77 ETH contracts had traded on the CME’s platform, Skew said.

The contracts are for 50 ETH, giving each of them a notional value of roughly $82,000.

Bitcoin's attention-devouring rallies keep it in the center of the crypto stage; the rise of BTC futures has cemented institutional interest.

Ethereum could follow the same path.

The price of ETH has rallied 30% to more than $1,700 over the past seven days, seemingly, and at least in part, owing to the CME product launch.

For any asset, whether its something that is edible for breakfast or just a handy interest rate hedge, having a futures product on the CME is a sign of mainstream approval.