Bitcoin bulls have brushed off a sweeping legal crackdown against some of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency industry, high interest rates and global recession concerns to push the digital currency’s value close to a 20-month high this week.

The digital coin traded at around $41,700 on Tuesday morning, after pushing past $42,000 the day before. It has gained roughly 150 percent this year, far outperforming the Nasdaq composite index, as investors bet that regulators will soon approve the first spot exchange-traded fund that is designed to track the price of Bitcoin.

Investment management specialists are swarming. Thirteen firms, including BlackRock, Fidelity and the Swiss-based Pando Asset, have filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create such an E.T.F.

An E.T.F. is essentially a bundle of assets split up into shares that investors can buy and sell on stock exchanges. Unlike existing Bitcoin E.T.F.s, which are linked to futures contracts, a so-called spot fund would let investors own the token itself, without the hassle of requirements like a crypto wallet. Regulatory approval for such a product would usher in the industry’s long-held dream of a mainstream investment product.