Bitcoin maintained its run, fueled by hopes of new demand from exchange-traded funds, and reached its highest price since May of last year.

The largest digital asset gained as much as 11.5% to surpass $35,000 before trimming some of the gains to trade at $34,605 in New York at 8:11 a.m. (7:31 p.m. IST) on Tuesday, bringing its year-to-date recovery from 2022’s digital-asset slump to 108%.

The potential approval of the first US spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming weeks is fueling speculation about the token. Asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity Investments are among those vying to provide such services. Bulls in digital assets say that ETFs will increase cryptocurrency usage.

On Monday, a US federal appeals court confirmed Grayscale Investments LLC’s victory over the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s objections to the creation of a spot Bitcoin ETF.

The SEC has so far refused to approve ETFs that invest directly in Bitcoin, citing dangers such as fraud and market manipulation. The court decision and a flood of applications from investing heavyweights to launch spot funds have fueled expectations that the agency may back down.

Coinbase Global Inc. and Bitcoin holder MicroStrategy are up 7.7% and 8.9%, respectively. Marathon Digital Holdings and Riot Platforms are up about 14% in the early session.

“We believe the crypto sector is approaching an inflection point that will result in increased volatility in crypto-linked stocks in any of our scenarios,” Needham analyst John Todaro wrote in a note.