Bitcoin traded above $72,000 for the first time on March 11, 2024, setting a nominal record as British regulators and the London Stock Exchange opened a conditional route for professionally traded securities backed by bitcoin and ether.
Coinbase’s BTC-USD market recorded a March 11 UTC-session high of $72,943.98. The candle opened at $69,032.80 and closed at $72,110.98, a 4.46% increase calculated from those values. Its low was $67,112.21, and reported volume was approximately 32,333 BTC.
Those figures describe one exchange and one UTC measurement window. Bitcoin trades continuously across venues without an official consolidated close, so other platforms reported different highs. A contemporaneous Reuters report placed the record at $72,739 and bitcoin at $72,649 at its later snapshot. The difference illustrates why venue and timestamp must accompany crypto price claims.
Britain changed its institutional boundary
The Financial Conduct Authority said on March 11 that it would not object to recognised investment exchanges creating UK-listed market segments for cryptoasset-backed exchange-traded notes. Access was restricted to professional investors, including authorised or regulated investment firms and credit institutions.
The FCA required participating exchanges to maintain controls for orderly trading and appropriate investor protection. Proposed notes still had to satisfy the UK Listing Regime, including prospectus and continuing-disclosure requirements, and the regulator said listing applications would be considered individually.
The decision did not open the products to the general public. The FCA retained its prohibition on selling crypto ETNs and crypto derivatives to retail consumers, describing the instruments as unsuitable for that group. It also continued to characterize cryptoassets as high-risk and largely unregulated.
The London Stock Exchange responded in Market Notice N02/24. It confirmed that it would accept applications during the second quarter of 2024 for the admission of bitcoin and ethereum crypto ETNs. The notice did not specify an application-opening date or first trading day, saying the exact launch date would be confirmed later.
No crypto ETN was approved, admitted or traded in London because of the March 11 notice alone. Issuers still needed to meet exchange requirements, obtain the necessary FCA approvals and operate within a professional-only segment.
A market record amid expanding securities access
The announcements mattered because they extended the institutionalization of cryptocurrency exposure beyond the United States, where securities regulators had approved exchange proposals for spot bitcoin products in January 2024. London’s proposed instruments were not an identical market: they were crypto-backed ETNs, remained unavailable to retail consumers and still required individual admissions.
For professional investors, the prospective structure offered exchange-traded exposure through established securities infrastructure rather than requiring direct management of cryptocurrency wallets. It did not remove bitcoin or ether volatility, custody dependence, issuer risk, tracking differences or the possibility of limited liquidity.
March 11 therefore joined two independently verifiable developments. Bitcoin established a new venue-specific nominal high, while the UK created a regulated pathway through which professional investors could eventually trade qualifying crypto-linked notes. Both reflected broader institutional access, but the evidence does not prove that the FCA and LSE announcements caused the price increase.
Contemporaneous reporting also identified demand associated with newly launched U.S. spot bitcoin products and expectations for future monetary easing as parts of the market backdrop. Those explanations were plausible narratives on March 11, not a decomposition of the Coinbase session’s buying.
What the record establishes
The defensible conclusion is narrow: Coinbase recorded bitcoin above $72,000 during its March 11 UTC candle; Reuters independently reported a record that day; the FCA permitted professional-only exchange segments; and the LSE announced that applications would be accepted in the second quarter.
The records did not establish completed UK trading, investor demand for the proposed ETNs or a causal relationship between the policy announcements and bitcoin’s price. Those uncertainties remain separate from the verified market and regulatory milestones.
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