Crypto investors, more than a decade after the initial rejection, are eagerly waiting for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Current Status of the Spot Bitcoin ETF
Major companies are awaiting approval for their spot Bitcoin ETFs. Among these companies is the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, with 13 companies expecting ETF approvals.
After the devastating year of 2022, Bitcoin’s price has significantly increased for a large part of 2023 due to events surrounding the spot ETF approval, currently trading at approximately $43,900.
Conversely, pessimistic reports of a Bitcoin spot ETF rejection have always led to price declines.
Most recently, on January 3rd, rumors initiated by Matrixport about the rejection of a Bitcoin spot ETF spooked the markets, resulting in an 8% drop in Bitcoin’s price.
While the crypto market eagerly awaits the SEC’s decision next week with optimism, the possibility of a negative outcome still looms.
Ali Martinez made a statement on X, indicating that regardless of the decision on the Bitcoin ETF, another catalyst for a rise this year is expected, which is Bitcoin’s halving. According to Ali, looking back in history, this halving event has been a significant catalyst for major price movements.
Ali Martinez’s Comments on Halving
To delve deeper into the subject, Martinez shared a chart showing BTC’s price performance 365 days after past halvings (above). According to the chart shared by Martinez, after the first halving event when BTC mining rewards were reduced to 25 BTC, there was an increase of over 6000% in Bitcoin’s price.
In the following periods, the subsequent halving events in 2016 and 2020 saw an average annual increase of over 400%.
While significant price increases have been observed after Bitcoin halvings so far, it is useful to note that past performance is not sufficient to make definitive judgments about predicting future outcomes.
Bitcoin miners are currently rewarded with 6.25 Bitcoins for each successful block mined. This reward will be halved to 3.125 Bitcoins after the upcoming Bitcoin halving.
