Showing posts with label bitcoin etf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bitcoin etf. Show all posts

Crypto Market Almost FULLY RECOVERED From the Terra/Luna Collapse, and FTX Bankruptcy...

Crypto Market Recovery

The cryptocurrency market has almost returned to levels before the damaging collapses of Terra/Luna and FTX in 2022. Bitcoin recently surpassed $39,000 for the first time since May 2022, fueled in part by growing expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could finally approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the next few weeks, or even days.

At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is trading around $39,700 - a gain of just $800 to $40,500 would officially represent a full recovery.

2022: A Year So Bad, it Took 2 Years To Recover From...

In 2022, two big hits cut Bitcoin's price in half over just few months.

The first came from the Terra/Luna debacle, triggered by the collapse of TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to maintain a $1 peg but ultimately lost all value. Prior to its failure, the high interest rates offered by Terra through its Anchor protocol had attracted billions of dollars in investments, including from major crypto lending firms like Celsius Network. As the 'stablecoin' hit a liquidity crisis Terraform Labs began rapidly selling its bitcoin reserves in a desperate attempt to maintain the peg. This massive dumping of bitcoin put significant downward pressure on prices, contributing to bitcoin falling from around $30,000 down to below $20,000.

The second big hit came just months later when crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy after questions arose over its financial health and potential commingling of customer funds. As one of the largest and seemingly most reputable exchanges, FTX's failure shook investor confidence and reignited worries of contagion across the crypto ecosystem. Bitcoin fell to under $16,000 amidst the fallout, its lowest level since late 2020.

Since then, the Market has Been Gradually Recovering...  

Some analysts believe bitcoin could soon surmount the key psychological barrier of $40,000 if momentum continues building ahead of a long-awaited bitcoin spot ETF approval.

Others caution bitcoin may retreat to around $35,000 if ETF approval doesn't happen soon, but still bounce past $40k when it eventually happens. 

But all are in agreement - the crypto winter is officially thawing.

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

SEC Expected to DELAY Bitcoin ETF Approval AGAIN - Here's The Date We Can ACTUALLY Expect Approval By...

Bitcoin ETF approval

The cryptocurrency world is watching closely this week as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faces key deadlines to approve or reject several proposed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Friday marks the deadline for the SEC to make initial decisions on ETF applications from financial firms Hashdex and Franklin Templeton. The regulator could approve the applications, reject them outright, or punt the decision down the road by extending the deadline into 2023.

Another Delay Coming?

According to ETF specialist James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence, there is a "good chance" the SEC will choose the third option and delay the bitcoin ETF decisions until January 2024.

In total, there are 12 pending bitcoin spot ETF applications awaiting judgement by the SEC. The chart below shows the status of the 12 firms applying...

Those in red have already been delayed or denied.

The prospect of bitcoin ETF approval in the US has already fueled a price rally for the cryptocurrency, with bitcoin rising from around $28,000 to over $36,000 over the past month.

If Not Now, Soon...

While Bloomberg's James Seyffart predicts a delay this week, he remains optimistic that some bitcoin ETFs will ultimately get approved by January 10th, giving this prediction a 90% chance of happing. 

Exploiting the Hype...

However, ETF excitement also led to some market manipulation last week. An unknown actor submitted a fake application for a Ripple (XRP) ETF from Blackrock, briefly causing XRP to spike 10%. The price quickly corrected, but not before causing $5 million in liquidations for XRP leverage traders caught on the wrong side of the swings.

The SEC has yet to approve any cryptocurrency ETFs, repeatedly citing concerns around volatility, manipulation, and adequate oversight. But many investors hope that 2023 could finally be the year bitcoin ETFs get the green light in the US, opening the doors to greater mainstream adoption.

But the SEC faces growing pressure as other countries have already begun approving bitcoin ETFs, further delays would officially put the US behind.

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

Fidelity Isn't The Only Company Wanting To Start A Bitcoin ETF - The Fierce Race To Be First...

Actually, it's not officially Fidelity's ETF, it would belong to a company called Wise Origin, and Fidelity Digital Assets will serve as the fund's custodian, storing Wise Origin's holdings. 

The ETF, called Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, will aim to match an index that takes spot prices from various bitcoin markets, including popular exchanges, Fidelity said in a securities filing.

But now that their intent is public, they're becoming aware of how fierce competition to do be first will be...

Video Courtesy Of Yahoo Finance

SEC Chair Says Crypto Industry Has "Made Progress" Addressing Issues Needed for Bitcoin ETF Approval...


Sec Chair Jay Cayton previously shared the concerns that were holding him back from approving a Bitcoin ETF. 

They including custody, and price manipulation - specifically the potential for foreign exchanges with little oversight being able to manipulate price.

Asked if the industry has made any progress addressing these concerns, he says - yes!


Financial expert Ric Edelman on Bitcoin ETF approval challenges, the 'big players' addressing them, and why he's 'virtually certain' approval will follow...


Ric Edelman is the chairman and co-founder of Edelman Financial Services, LLC, the author of several personal finance books and the host of a weekly personal finance talk radio show called The Ric Edelman Show. 

He also shares his belief that Bitcoin manipulation is 'about the same as oil or gold' prices, and the SEC will just have to learn to accept it. 




Last time a Bitcoin ETF was denied, markets dropped. This time the crypto world didn't care - and just HODL'd!


Editors notes: There's a few interesting parts of this clip.  The comparison of the market's reactions to this week's ETF rejections to the Winklevoss twins ETF rejection earlier this year. As well as the SECs reasons for rejecting this latest batch.

I believe this means the people holding Bitcoin today are overwhelmingly those who believe in it long term - and the "news of the day" doesn't scare us, because we're thinking way beyond that.

We realized a lot of people have been too scared to ask - what the hell is a Bitcoin ETF!? Here's all you need to know...

There's definitely a thing in the cryptocurrency world where everyone has to pretend to know everything.  I've seen a lot of heated online arguments where people are going back and forth, then there's a strange pause where you know someone took a minute to Google a term their opponent used so they could reply pretending they knew the whole time.

I knew the basics of what an ETF was, but only because I played around in the traditional stock market a bit before cryptocurrency grabbed my full attention.

Then during a recent conversation with some of my very bright friends here in the Silicon Valley tech world where they confessed they have no idea what an ETF is, I realized a lot of crypto investors have never invested in anything else - so this "ETF" thing we keep talking about is a new term to them.

So for everyone too afraid to ask, and those who tried to look it up... but only found 10 page long answers - here's the "what you need to know" on ETF's from experts in the field.

I reached out to some of the most respected people in the world of finance, and asked them share the most important things those of us in the crypto world should know - before our two worlds come together (assuming a Bitcoin ETF gets approved soon - personally I think it will happen before the end of the year).

Lee Kranefuss, CEO of The Kranefuss Group told me:

"One of the things that makes stock stock is that it trades, all day, on a stock exchange. This is a central place for buyers to find sellers and vice versa (at least virtually).

 An ETF is nothing more or less than a stock that allows the same thing. The difference is that an ETF isn't a company that makes widgets, or provides services. It simply invests in one or more other things - like stocks and bonds in companies.

 So, with an ETF, you are buying (maybe) a fund that holds 500 stocks, or at the other extreme a security that invests in crude oil, or (possibly) BitCoin. (The latter, by the way, would technically be Exchange-Traded Products, or ETPs in the U.S. due law; in Europe they could be ETFs)."

President of ProChain Capital, David Tawil explained it to me like this:

"An ETF enables easy investment in assets. The ETF is listed on a stock exchange and given a ticker. The assets included in an ETF can range from liquid assets, that an investor could easily invest in directly, such as stocks, but the ETF might offer the valuable feature of being diversified or targeting a particular industry or geography. Additionally, as it relates to Bitcoin and other crypto-assets, an ETF can offer investors a very easy way to invest in those assets, which are otherwise difficult or administratively challenging to access. The bottom line is that a Bitcoin ETF should create massive additional liquidity in Bitcoin (or other crypto-assets, to the extent that they are included)."

And Morris Armstrong, founder of Armstrong Financial Strategies added this important note:

"An ETF can be something that simply tracks the value of either one or many cryptocurrencies and is traded throughout the day. If you own the Exchange Traded Fund, you do not own the underlying crypto assets but you can make a profit or loss on the way those assets move."

I think that about covers it!  If you have any more ETF related questions you'd like me to ask the experts, drop me a line!

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Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk