Expectations over a possible US Bitcoin ETF application by investment giant BlackRock led to a slight shift in market activity early Friday morning, adding to the bullish outlook among some traders.
Coindesk reported Thursday that BlackRock plans to offer a Bitcoin ETF with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as custodian. This was later confirmed by filings showing that the company’s iShares Fund Management division had submitted documents for the creation of a Spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF.
“Currently, an estimated 20% of Americans own Bitcoin at some point. An ETF proposed by BlackRock could provide a more familiar and accessible option for the remaining 80%. Yes,” CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chang said in an email to CoinDesk. “BlackRock’s growing engagement shows that Bitcoin continues to be an asset of interest to some of the world’s largest financial institutions.”
Bitcoin quickly rebounded to the $25,500 levels early on Friday, wiping out the previous two days of losses to $24,860. The move gave major tokens such as Polygon Network’s MATIC and Cardano’s ADA some rest, as they nominally surged to mitigate losses from the two-day decline.
Dogecoin (DOGE) led the rally among major tokens, rising 4% over the past 24 hours, while Litecoin (LTC) gained 3.3%.
As such, the strength of the bitcoin market has had an impact on shorting (or betting against) bitcoin, with BTC-linked futures seeing more than $16 million short in the last 24 hours. The big sell-off over the past week has made this number lower than usual, forcing some traders to risk with less money than usual.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously rejected spot Bitcoin ETF listing attempts by fund managers such as Grayscale, VanEck and WisdomTree.
However, BlackRock’s status may make it difficult for the SEC to deny this application. someone says If approved, it could spur Bitcoin’s massive rally.
