Bitcoin gains as traditional banking jitters buoy crypto prices

Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) changed hands firmly in the green Tuesday as renewed concerns about the stability of the traditional regional banking sector strengthened investors' case to turn to alternative assets like cryptocurrencies. The largest digital token by market cap ( BTC-USD ) advanced 3.4% to $28.78K at 3:35 p.m. ET, after reaching as low as $27.70K less than 24 hours ago. Since mid-March, shortly after the turmoil in the banking system emerged, the coin has oscillated in a range of $27.4K-$30.50K. Overall, the global crypto market cap gained 2.3% to $1.19T, according to CoinMarketCap data , mostly helped by bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) rally as well as ethereum's ( ETH-USD ) 3.5% climb to $1.87K. “It’s highly interesting that with bank failures and traditional finance showing weaknesses throughout the Western world, the transaction volume of Bitcoin is only going one way – up," said Mikkel Morch, chairman and non-executive director at ARK36. "Clearly, the current economic climate is creating opportunities for alternative systems like Bitcoin to gain more traction." Of course, crypto-exposed stocks gapped up despite a risk-off day across the broader equity market. The biggest winners include: Riot Platforms ( RIOT ), +11.6% , Marathon Digital ( MARA ), +10% , CleanSpark ( CLSK ), +13.6% , and MicroStrategy ( MSTR ), +6.9% . More on Crypto Bitcoin: A Flash Crash And A Look At The Fundamentals Shapella Is Done, And Ethereum Is Still Here Crypto funds post second straight week of outflows: CoinShares