Investing.com - The crypto market was unusually bullish on Tuesday afternoon in Asia. Bitcoin pushed past the $4,500 level and prices of other major cryptocurrencies also advanced.

Bitcoin surged 8.72% to $4,528.0 by 11:41 PM ET (03:41 AM GMT).

Ethereum gained 2.31% to $146.21, Litecoin added 6.82% to $65.575 and XRP rose 4.13% to $0.32426.

The crypto market cap stayed robust to reach $155 billion.

News from Japan hinted at the potentially wider adoption of digital coins. Japan’s largest railway company JR East’s Suica payment card could support a crypto payment system.

Kazuhiro Tokita, head of Japanese crypto exchange DeCurret, introduced a new crypto payment system that could be used for the nearly 70 million Suica cards in the country. JR East is said to be considering the idea but there is no concrete plan yet.

JR East is one of the examples that shows Japan’s willingness to embrace crypto. E-commerce giant Rakuten, dubbed Japan’s Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), will launch Rakuten Wallet, which will support the use of digital currencies.

On the other hand, the U.S. is gearing up to develop regulation on crypto. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking a crypto specialist attorney advisor to come up with “a comprehensive plan to address crypto and digital asset securities”. The person will be working at the Division of Trading and Markets.

Industry insiders believe this is a response to the calls for greater regulatory clarity for blockchain-based tokens and securities laws.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Goldman Sachs-backed crypto finance company Circle, reportedly said the biggest regulatory hurdle in the crypto space was the securities regulator’s failure to provide definition on various crypto assets.

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