- The exit of Binance from the United States crypto market as part of the settlement deal has given US-based crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken a significant advantage.
- The traditional financial institutions in the United States led by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Invesco that have all applied to offer spot Bitcoin ETF with the US SEC are expected to dominate the web3 market in the coming years.
The journey to have spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approved in the United States has been paved by the U.S Department of the Treasury through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) by fining Binance Holdings Ltd., $3.4 billion and $968 million respectively.
The US government has nailed Binance’s former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) with aiding money laundering and matching trades between US users with sanctioned jurisdictions. As part of the settlement deal, Binance is expected to exit the United States market and open its order books to FinCEN for monitorship for the next five years.
Bitcoin Spot ETF Imminent in the US
The future growth and success of the United States financial market is largely dependent on how it adopts the web3 industry and blockchain technology. As a result, the country’s elite have joined forces to sweep traditional crypto companies as shown by the bombshell on Binance and its former CEO CZ. Moreover, Bitcoin and the digital asset industry are expected to take a major role in the next POTUS during the 2024 elections. According to a recent report by Coinbase, more than 52 million Americans have invested in the crypto market and have a huge impact if they come together as a voting bloc.
Notably, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received more than ten applications for spot Bitcoin EFTs for major fund managers, with Coinbase Global listed as the major custody of the assets. According to Ki Young Ju, the co-founder and CEO of cryptoquant, the notable regulatory pressure on Binance will undeniably help Coinbase lead in global trading volume, thus leading to an imminent approval of spot Bitcoin ETF.
Global regulatory pressure on Binance
→ Coinbase absorbs market share with futures trading feature for non-U.S. users.
→ Coinbase leads in global trading volume.
→ SEC approves spot ETF without requiring an SSA, citing the majority of trading volume originating from U.S.
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) November 22, 2023
According to Will Clemente, a co-founder at Reflexivity Research, the heavy bombshell on Binance from the United States is very much choreographed for anyone not to see the manipulation by fund managers. Similar sentiments were highlighted by Helio CEO, Stijn Paumen, who noted that the departure of CZ is the end of an era, and Messari CEO, Ryan Selkis.
“I have a hard timing thinking BlackRock didn’t have some type of informational edge around Binance when they initially filed,” Clemente said.
We just got the clarity of Binance and are now only seven weeks out from the ETF deadline for Ark. Feels like way too much of a coincidence,
Market Picture
The crypto market has significantly rebounded from the Binance saga as the newly appointed CEO, Richard Teng takes over from CZ. According to our latest market data, Bitcoin and BNB traded around $36.6k and $235 respectively, with the total crypto market cap at about $1,44 trillion on Wednesday.
