New York, Monday, September 04: The price of Bitcoin failed to break above US$28,000 on Monday, despite last week’s hype surrounding the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization had risen to a two-week high of US$27,322 on Thursday, two days after a U.S. court ruled in favor of Grayscale Investments’ application to list an ETF that tracks the price of Bitcoin.
However, Bitcoin has since retreated and was trading at around US$27,000 on Monday.
Analysts said that the lack of a sustained price rally following the court ruling suggests that investors are still hesitant to buy Bitcoin in anticipation of a spot ETF approval. The SEC has yet to rule on Grayscale’s application, and it is possible that the regulator could still deny it.
“The market is still waiting for the SEC to make a decision on the spot ETF,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.1
“Until then, we’re likely to see Bitcoin range-bound between US$27,000 and US$30,000.”
The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF would be a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry. It would allow investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without having to buy and store the cryptocurrency themselves. This would make Bitcoin more accessible to a wider range of investors and could help to drive its adoption.
However, the SEC has been cautious about approving a spot Bitcoin ETF, citing concerns about market manipulation and investor protection. The regulator has also said that it is considering the potential impact of a spot ETF on the price of Bitcoin.
The SEC is expected to make a decision on Grayscale’s application in the coming months. In the meantime, the price of Bitcoin is likely to remain volatile.
Other cryptocurrencies also fell on Monday. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading at around US$1,800. Solana and Cardano were down by around 4% and 5%, respectively.
The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization was down by around 2% to US$1.1 trillion.
Pantera Capital, a hedge fund with over US$4.8 billion in assets under management, predicted that Bitcoin would rise to US$35,000 before the 2024 halving and reach US$148,000 in 2025. 2
- oanda.com: https://www.oanda.com/group/news-analysis/meet-analysts/edward-moya/[↩]
- finance.yahoo: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-market-wrap-grayscale-favorable-104832972.html[↩]
