The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) has got the much-needed thrust as latest reports confirm that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the iShares spot Bitcoin ETF.
Spot Bitcoin ETF: Real of Fake News?
At press time, the BTC price has shot past $29,400 levels and eyeing a move above $30,000. cointelegraph was the first to report this development. However, there’s not enough clarity on the actual approval of the same.
🚨 BREAKING: SEC APPROVES ISHARES BITCOIN SPOT ETF.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 16, 2023
Bloomberg’s senior ETF strategists Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart have weighed in on the developments and stated that there’s no confirmation for the same. Balchunas wrote:
“While I expect to wake up one day in next couple months to a headline just like this, this seems a bit ahead of schedule. Trying to confirm source now. Stay tuned.. On one hand the crypto trades have solid rep of breaking big news, on the other they also have rep of taking words and re-ordering them in a more exciting but not accurate way”.
His colleague James Seyffart, who’s been actively following the developments also said that there’s not enough proof to the matter. Thus, it’s just a nothing but a “fake news” for now.
I believe this to be fake news.
While this would be positive for the things we’ve been saying. I can’t find anything that would confirm this at the moment. #Bitcoin https://t.co/gVGGUsBfga
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) October 16, 2023
Is Spot Bitcoin ETF Nearing?
Over the last weekend, Bitcoin has been showing strength amid several positive developments surrounding the spot Bitcoin ETF. Last week, the US SEC decided not to challenge the court ruling that would allow converting the GBTC product to a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Bloomberg analysts – Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart – said last week that there’s a 90% chance of a spot Bitcoin ETF approval by January 2024, in the US. The odds have improved ever since the developments taking place in the Grayscale vs the SEC battle.
Amid these developments, the GBTC share discount in relation to the spot Bitcoin price has dipped below 16%, notably down from its earlier peak of 30% this year.
Recent data from YCharts reveals that the discount of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) concerning Bitcoin’s Net Asset Value (NAV) has contracted to 15.87% as of October 13. This decline in GBTC’s discount initially began when BlackRock and several other financial institutions submitted applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs in mid-June. Starting at 44% on June 15, the discount has steadily reduced to 26.7% by July 5, and it has since continued to narrow.
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