According to a research report by JPMorgan, the regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies in the U.S. is causing American crypto firms to seek opportunities overseas. The report notes that the lack of clarity on issues such as ether's status as a security is also impacting demand and liquidity in the cryptocurrency market. The regulatory pressure has deterred institutional investors from engaging with crypto, and some investors are buying gold instead of bitcoin as a hedge against a potential catastrophic scenario. Bitcoin's rally this year is said to be driven more by retail buying than institutional investors. A new protocol called Bitcoin Ordinals, which allows non-fungible-tokens to be stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, has also contributed to bitcoin's outperformance.

(By Will Canny)