Bitcoin fluctuated around $71,000 throughout the Asian and European mornings, following its rally earlier this week. BTC's price is little changed over 24 hours, trading in a range of $70,900-$71,100 for much of the morning in Europe, an increase of around 0.1%. Elsewhere, the broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) is similarly unmoved, up about 0.25% at the time of writing. Among the crypto majors, only ether is showing a change in excess of 1%. ETH is priced at just under $3,850, a rise of around 1.25% in the last 24 hours.

Robinhood agreed to buy crypto exchange Bitstamp in a $200 million all-cash deal. Bitstamp, founded in 2011, is one of the largest crypto exchanges in Europe, and will therefore provide a boon to Robinhood's global expansion plans. “The acquisition of Bitstamp is a major step in growing our crypto business," said Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto " Through this strategic combination, we are better positioned to expand our footprint outside of the U.S. and welcome institutional customers to Robinhood.” HOOD shares rose 2.5% to $22.15 in pre-market trading following the announcement of the acquisition.

Van Eck set a 2030 target of $22,000 for ether, the native token of the Ethereum network. The firm, one of the prospective providers of a spot ether ETF in the U.S., wrote in a recent report that ether will soar to that level thanks to Ethereum's disruptive power and cash flow generated for token holders as well as the anticipated approval of the ETFs. VanEck wrote that the fuel driving the rally is that Ethereum-based technology can offer lower costs, increased efficiency and greater transparency. This shift could threaten to transfer significant market share from traditional financial and tech institutions, which cumulatively have a $15 trillion total available market, to blockchain-based services.

Bitcoin options traders are positioning themselves for a fresh BTC all-time high this month, market data suggests. Bitcoin has been in a consolidation phase since it last attained its highest ever price in March, but it may be ripe for a fresh breakout.

Digital asset hedge fund QCP said it saw "strong bullish follow-through," with call buying for June expiries indicating positioning for a break above $74,000, in a market update on Wednesday.

"Options flow was clearly bullish today with big sizes on long BTC OTM [out-of-money] call spreads in end June, and to a lower extent end July," institutional crypto derivatives trading network Paradigm said in a Telegram broadcast.

Bitcoin appears ready to "squeeze higher," according to Matrixport. There are some $1.5 billion worth of leveraged futures contracts around $72,000 betting on lower prices, so a surge above that level could induce a short squeeze.