Reports released on Thursday indicate that the SEC has issued final comments for prospective issuers and may soon approve multiple bitcoin ETF applications based on spot trading.
BTC has nearly recovered all losses from Wednesday’s flash crash amid reports that the approval of a spot ETF may be imminent.
A survey shows that only 39% of financial advisors expect the approval of a bitcoin ETF this year, but 88% would be interested in buying BTC after approval.
Marcus Thielen of Matrixport suggests that investors may shift focus to ether once a bitcoin ETF is approved.
Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded to $44,500 on Thursday as investors shrugged off yesterday’s flash crash and remained optimistic about a forthcoming US-based Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) approval.
While Matrixport’s warning on Wednesday of a possible rejection may have triggered a rapid 10% Bitcoin decline, most observers still anticipate that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the registration, possibly as soon as Friday.
Eric Balchunas, an analyst at Bloomberg ETF, said in the US afternoon that the agency is finalizing its comments on the registration, after which it will update potential issuers on their filings.
Shortly thereafter, TechCrunch reporter Jacquelyn Melinek cited sources “extremely close to the matter” as saying the SEC will soon approve multiple registrations.
BTC has risen 4% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $44,500 at press time, erasing almost all of yesterday’s decline to below $41,000.
Predictions about directly holding underlying assets for bitcoin ETFs have benefited the cryptocurrency market since Wall Street giant BlackRock filed paperwork in June to list a US company—a move that quickly led to numerous other candidates. These vehicles are seen as superior to futures-based contracts already listed, and price speculators are betting they will attract significant inflows into the largest cryptocurrencies.
However, a survey released on Thursday by Bitwise and VettaFi found that only 39% of financial advisors expect a spot BTC ETF to be approved this year.
Perhaps more interestingly, the same survey showed that 88% of those advisors see a spot ETF as a catalyst and would be interested in buying bitcoin after approval. Bitwise is among the asset managers with a spot BTC ETF application pending SEC approval.
Ether could be next
Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport and author of yesterday’s report warning of a potential rejection or delay, clarified on Thursday in a CoinDesk podcast interview that ultimately, he expects US authorities to allow spot BTC ETFs, but bitcoin may drop to lower levels in the coming weeks as technical indicators signal a slowdown in the upward trend.
Thielen also noted that once spot BTC ETFs are given the green light, investors will quickly shift their focus to ether of Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, with decisions on spot-based ETF applications for ether possibly coming as early as May.
“We expect to see ETH outperforming BTC,” Thielen predicted.
