Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies such as ethereum, XRP, and solana have surged into 2024 amid concerns over the future of U.S. dollar dominance. This comes after the bitcoin price rebounded last year following its 2022 crash, pushing the combined ethereum, XRP, solana, and crypto market back above $1.6 trillion for the first time since early 2022. The surge is partly due to the anticipation of a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) led by BlackRock, despite some fears that the asset manager could potentially harm bitcoin.
As traders anxiously anticipate the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) potential “rug pull of the decade,” an insider leak has revealed that BlackRock has prepared a massive $2 billion investment if its spot bitcoin ETF bid is approved. This comes ahead of bitcoin’s historical halving, which is expected to cause significant fluctuations in crypto prices.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at investment company VanEck, shared that BlackRock has more than $2 billion lined up in the first week from existing bitcoin holders who are adding to their positions. However, he also noted that he couldn’t vouch for this information. VanEck anticipates “$2.5 billion in the first quarter of trading,” a figure derived from “past flows into the first gold ETF and adjusting by the U.S. money supply. And we have a $40 billion market opportunity over two years based on a similar analysis.”
Travis Kling, the chief investment officer of Ikigai Asset Management, stated that “$2bn week one into BlackRock alone would blow expectations out of the water.” He added that half of that from all ETFs combined would have been a satisfactory outcome. VanEck, along with other spot bitcoin ETF hopefuls BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares, and Invesco, have rushed to finalize their applications this week ahead of a January 8 Monday morning deadline.
Five SEC commissioners will reportedly vote on the spot bitcoin ETF bids next week. BlackRock’s landmark June 2023 spot bitcoin ETF filing has intensified the race to get a fully-fledged bitcoin fund to market following a decade of SEC rejections. Over the years, the SEC has repeatedly cited the possibility of manipulation for denying various spot bitcoin ETF applications.
If approved, many bitcoin and crypto market watchers expect it to open the floodgates for institutional money to flow into the bitcoin market, though not all agree. Oliver Linch, the chief executive of crypto exchange Bittrex Global, said, “This is an immensely tough situation to read, but I would be very surprised if these ETFs are outright denied.” He added that if the ETFs are denied or even materially delayed, there will surely be a significant hit to the bitcoin price. However, given that an approval is already mostly priced in, the spike effect of an approval may not be as dramatic as some would like.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Oliver Linch, Matthew Sigel, Travis Kling |
| Companies | Valkyrie, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock, Ikigai Asset Management, VanEck, ARK 21Shares, Grayscale, Invesco, Forbes, Bittrex Global, Fidelity |
| Currencies | Solana, XRP, Unidef, Ethereum, Bitcoin |
| Securities | BlackRock, Invesco IVZ, VanEck, Grayscale, Fidelity |
