Bitcoin Reclaims $6,600, Altcoins Gain up to 9% Today as ETF Giant BlackRock Eyes Crypto

Crypto markets are on an upswing today, July 16, as data from Coin360 shows, with Bitcoin reclaiming the $6,600 price point.

Today's notable market growth is likely bolstered by news that the $6.3 trillion asset management heavyweight BlackRock - the world's largest provider of exchange traded-funds - is beginning to assess potential involvement in Bitcoin, according to reports from Financial News.

Today's solid market gains are poised to turn around negative momentum that has thwarted price performance since market descent that began July 10.

Bitcoin is trading around $6,607, up a little over 4 percent over the 24-hour period to press time.

Leading altcoin Ethereum is trading around $474 to press time, up over 6 percent over the past 24 hours to press time.

EOS is the strongest performer of the top ten cryptocurrencies over the 24-hour period, up a hefty 8.55 percent and trading at $7.75 to press time.

Today's significant news from BlackRock is likely to invigorate the narrative that institutional investors have been biding their time to enter the cryptocurrency markets at an opportune moment.

Over the weekend, CNBC trading advisor Ran Neuner went so far as to venture that once the institutional behemoths are in, 2017's bull run for crypto would come to "Look like a warm-up."

Ran Neuer has today added today that the indications that BlackRock could now enter the crypto space potentially heralds an "Exciting" and transformational moment for the markets - a position that echoes the long-held view that crypto-based ETFs would be a 'holy grail' for the crypto industry.

In its own bid to provide infrastructure to facilitate institutional entry, major U.S. crypto wallet provider and exchange service Coinbase has said that it expects that such moves - rapidly being mirrored across the crypto space - will "Unlock" the "$10 billion" of institutional capital that has until now been "Sitting on the sideline."