Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) on Friday was on track to end the week more than 3% higher , largely helped by a rally on Wednesday following Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's comments about rate hikes potentially slowing in December. The top crypto was set to snap a three week losing streak. It scaled the $17K mark in its session high on Wednesday for the first time since mid-Nov, and repeated that feat on Thursday and today. Cryptocurrencies started off the week with a wobble following lender BlockFi's bankruptcy filing on Monday, as the fallout from the abrupt collapse of crypto exchange FTX continued. The news sent bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) to its lowest close since November 22. Powell's comments on Wednesday inspired a stock market rally which swept up major digital tokens . Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) surged more than 4%, while ethereum ( ETH-USD ) gained more than 6%. Dogecoin ( DOGE-USD ) scaled nearly 5%. Wednesday's crypto advance was also helped by the approval of a bill to legalize crypto payments in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy. Seeking Alpha contributor Vincent Ventures argued that the FTX collapse could actually benefit bitcoin ( BTC-USD ). "Hot air rushing out of the cryptocurrency ecosystem should refocus developer activity on Bitcoin. Centralized exchanges, such as FTX, were an impediment to progress," Vincent Ventures said . The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $858.56B, up 0.73% over Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap . Amongst other developments during the week, Binance appeared to have looked past the recent market turmoil as it acquired a Japanese-registered crypto trading platform. Galaxy Digital Holdings ( OTCPK:BRPHF ) said it had won an auction to buy Celsius Network's self-custody platform. As of 1726 ET, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) was up 0.50% to $17.04K, while ether ( ETH-USD ) was +1.01% to $1.29K. Crypto-related stocks that ended in the green on Friday include Marathon Digital ( MARA ) and Riot Blockchain ( RIOT ), with the former rising more than 11% and the latter advancing about 8%. Crypto exchanges also rose, led by a ~5% gain in Coinbase ( COIN ).
