Bitcoin price continues to stay above $44,200 a few hours before the opening of the Asian markets. We are likely to see some more positivity in the coming hours as there is a growing belief that ETF approval will come within 48 hours. This has been confirmed in reports by several news sources based on information from insiders. However, there is something that is being overlooked.
Cryptocurrencies in 2024
Even though the BTC ETF approval has not yet arrived, Bitcoin should slowly fade from the headlines in the next few days. Then, the agenda is expected to be occupied by three things. The first is the Spot ETH ETF decisions, which will be discussed at length later in this article. The second is the Bitcoin block reward halving, which is 99 days away, and the third is the overly optimistic market expectation of the first Fed rate cut to be made at the March meeting.
Halving is generally a trigger for market rises, and if the employment data coming on Friday is also positive, the expectation of a rate cut will support the market rise as well.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, when the United States securities regulator approved Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds last year, it indirectly recognized Ether as a commodity. Therefore, active days could continue following the BTC ETF approval.
Spot Ethereum ETF
Speaking at CryptoQuant’s special webinar on January 4th, Seyffart referred to the approval of Ethereum futures ETFs in October 2023 and said things that would please Ethereum investors. Let’s make a side note that the SEC still thinks the PoS transition could have turned Ether into a security, the concentration of stakers could lead to various conflicts of interest, and pose risks for investors.
James, one of the most popular names in recent months, said the following;
“The CFTC recklessly calls Ethereum a commodity. They are not calling them securities. The SEC approved Ethereum futures ETFs. Therefore, Gary Gensler is not going to explicitly say whether Ethereum is a security or a commodity, but by approving these Ethereum futures ETFs, they are implicitly accepting these Ethereum futures as commodity futures.”
The SEC has to decide in May, about a month after the halving, on the spot Ethereum ETFs from VanEck, ARK 21Shares, and Hashdex. Great timing.
