Updated 12/26 below. This article was originally published on December 24.
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Bitcoin’s value reached $45,000, in line with bitcoin, before falling slightly, surging since October as the market prepares for a “Biden bailout” in 2024.
Today, after Wall Street giant BlackRock prepared the market for a primary restructuring, a mythical trader predicted that the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) of the world’s largest asset manager could be on the verge of “completely destroying Bitcoin. “
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“If ETFs managed through asset managers [in classical finance] are too successful, they will destroy bitcoin,” Arthur Hayes, a bitcoin and cryptocurrency trader who co-founded crypto derivatives pioneer BitMex, wrote in a blog post.
Hayes argued that if BlackRock, which is in “the asset accumulation game,” absorbs all of Bitcoin, there will be no more Bitcoin transactions and those who protect the Bitcoin network in exchange for fees and newly created Bitcoin, known as miners. “They wouldn’t have the power to protect the grid. “As a result, they would shut down their machines. Without miners, the network dies and bitcoin disappears. “
Update 12/26: Institutional investors will become more actively interested in cryptocurrency markets next year if a bitcoin spot ETF is approved, the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, and lawmakers still believe some regulatory clarity, according to analysts surveyed through The Block.
“Since late October, there’s been a noticeable uptick in institutional activity, largely driven by the anticipation surrounding the potential ETF news expected in January and strategic positioning by clients for this event,” Deribit chief commercial officer Luuk Strijers told The Block.
Hayes, who also predicted that China was about to “flood the world with yuan credit,” said that the death of bitcoin would “create an area for some other cryptocurrency network to expand in its place. “This network may simply be a bitcoin reboot or something. Different, it is an improved adaptation of the original Bitcoin. Either way, other people will go back to having an economic asset and an economic formula that is not controlled by the state.
The buzz around BlackRock’s Bitcoin Spot ETF app, which is expected to get the green light from the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is expected to be over. The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crisis at the start of the new year has fueled expectations that a liquidity buildup on Wall Street could be about to erupt. Rush to Bitcoin.
This week, a leak of confidential discussions between the SEC and executives from the thirteen asset managers vying to bring a Bitcoin spot ETF to market revealed that the SEC had set a Dec. 29 deadline for “final updates. “of their requests, reported via Reuters.
Two executives told Reuters that the SEC indicated it could approve a “wave” of bitcoin spot ETF applications in the first few business days of 2024 as BlackRock’s latest filing shows it’s ramping up preparations for approval.
“BlackRock expecting to seed [its bitcoin spot ETF] with $10 million on January 3,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas posted to X. “Notable the date and that it is a pretty big bump up from the $100,000 [BlackRock] seeded in October.”
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Bitcoin’s value has rebounded dramatically this year, largely thanks to BlackRock’s sudden interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market analysts expect an explosion in Bitcoin prices if the SEC goes ahead with the expected approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF application listing.
“We expect the SEC to approve Bitcoin spot ETFs in January,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, wrote in an emailed comment.
“This is expected to push bitcoin prices above $50,000 until the end of January 2024. The SEC reacted temporarily and frequently, and after productive meetings between the SEC and ETF issuers, it turned out that there was enough progress. BlackRock has met five times and Grayscale 4 times, several times with the SEC in recent weeks.