- ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggests that the language used in the rejected spot Bitcoin ETF approval post sounds legit and more from the US SEC than a prank from anyone.
- The ongoing sponsor war fees by the respective fund managers seeking to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US indicate a huge demand for the flagship coin and other digital assets by institutional investors.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been under siege in the past 24 hours leading to the highly anticipated decision on the dozen spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following the approval saga that ensued. With nearly $230 million liquidated from the crypto market due to the sudden heightened volatility, the regulatory agency is under scrutiny for potential market manipulation from the insiders. Moreover, the agency mandated to protect investors from fraud and market manipulation could be at the epicenter of one of the largest sagas. As a result, senior ETF analyst at news outlet Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, has suggested that an SEC insider is to be blamed for Tuesday’s X post that indicated the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF.
While there's been some bits of evidence that point to hack, I'm sticking w my initial theory (for now) that it came from inside SEC, a scheduled tweet gone bad.. https://t.co/sbGrVWE7xW
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 9, 2024
Meanwhile, several members of the US Congress intend to hold the SEC Chair Gary Gensler liable for the fake approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, with some advocating for his immediate resignation. Moreover, the announcement hack has violated the newly adopted SEC rules that require a high level of cyber security risk management.
What Next After Wednesday’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Decision
Wednesday’s decision on the spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States will have a profound implication on the crypto industry, thus ushering in a new era of web3 industry adoption. Sec has already Approved the first and if it opts to approve the dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs, experts argue that hundreds of billions of dollars will proliferate into the crypto industry in the coming years.
Consequently, the approval of spot Ethereum ETF in the United States will be more likely than before. Moreover, the US SEC already approved the Ethereum futures ETF from a similar standpoint to the Bitcoin futures ETF.
Additionally, the US SEC already lost a case against Grayscale Investments that requires the agency to review spot ETFs from the same perspective as the futures ETPs.
On the other hand, the crypto market will be significantly disappointed if the US SEC opts to reject the dozens spot Bitcoin ETFs on the grounds of being unregulated securities. In this regard, the agency will attract several lawsuits from the dozen fund managers led by BlackRock, Ark Invest, Fidelity, Invesco, and VanEck, among others.
Bitcoin Price Action
Bitcoin price has registered heightened volatility in the past few months leading to Wednesday’s spot Bitcoin ETF decision. Having teased $48k for the first time since the onset of the 2022/2023 crypto bear market, digital asset analysts suggest that the flagship coin could be preparing for an inevitable reversal and pave the way for the much-awaited altcoin season.
Bitcoin dominance has been gradually dropping after hitting the resistance level of around 54 percent. Additionally, the ETH/BTC chart on the weekly time frame has strongly rebounded on the support level around 0.051, thus indicating imminent cash rotation to the altcoin industry. Notably, Bitcoin price has gained about 5% percent in the past 24 hours to trade at around $48,500
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