Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Bitcoin dips regains $30K after dipping Wednesday afternoon.

Insights: Seoul’s grassroots embrace of crypto and a favorable regulatory environment have helped the city become one of the world’s leading blockchain hubs.

Bitcoin Rebounds as Investors Remain Upbeat

Bitcoin took a brief turn to the bad, old days below $30,000 early afternoon Wednesday (ET) before righting itself to return to its loftier perch.

The largest cryptocurrency was recently trading at about $30,100, down 2.2% over the past 24 hours.

After rising to its highest level in a year last week – over $31,300 – following spot bitcoin ETF filings by BlackRock and two other large financial services firms, bitcoin has flattened as investors considered the potential timing of an SEC decision of the ETF applications and continued, inflationary pressure that has weighed on asset markets.

Still, Mark Connors, head of research for Canadian digital asset manager 3iQ, wrote in a message to CoinDesk that bitcoin has risen 11% for the month, breaking from its more sluggish performance of the last two months amid the more upbeat news.

“June has been the biggest month since November for digital assets as it relates to news flow,” Connors wrote. “Not unusual to see the market take a breather.”

Bitcoin Dominance

Connors also noted that bitcoin dominance has increased to a 26-month high. “It has only grown during this recent market pullback as it outpaces ETH and other Alt coins,” he wrote, attributing the drop to more technical factors than a specific cause.

Bitcoin sentiment has turned bullish over the past week with the CoinDesk Bitcoin Indicator climbing into “significant upturn” territory after languishing in downturn areas for weeks.

Earlier this week, European digital asset manager CoinShares reported the largest single weekly inflows in a year – mostly dominated by bitcoin-related products – after nine consecutive weeks of outflows.

“Look at Coinbase, up today and up 21% over the past 5 days,” Connors wrote. “If there were structural reasons for this move lower, COIN would have been hit as well.”

Coinbase closed up more than 1% on Wednesday.

Investors will be eyeing bitcoin’s price as the market approaches Friday’s expiry of bitcoin options contracts could fuel a price increase, or send it spiraling in the immediate aftermath.

Ether was changing hands at $1,830, off 2.4% from Tuesday, same time. Other major cryptos were largely in the red with ADA and MATIC, the tokens of smart contracts platforms Cardano and Polygon each recently tumbling more than 6%. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of cypto markets performance, was recently down 2.3%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite continued its recent rally, inching up 0.2%, fueled partly by a record jump in tech device manufacturer Apple’s share price to nearly $190 and more than 2% increase of Tesla a few days before the electric car maker announces Q2 vehicle deliveries. The S&P 500 was roughly flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) edged down. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasurys and safe haven asset gold ticked down.

Binance, Coinbase Suits “Not Forgotten”

In an email, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, struck a wary note about cryptos’ path forward.

“The SEC lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase have not been forgotten, but they’ve certainly drifted into the background and been overtaken by far more promising news flow,” Erlam wrote. “It would appear the cryptocurrency has good momentum once more and the community may well be wondering if this could be the kind of development that sees enthusiasm for cryptos surge again.”

He added: “It’s obviously been a fantastic year for bitcoin so far” but a spring sell-off “was another reminder that it doesn’t come without major setbacks.”