Most investors thought the same things:
"Come January 2024, a Bitcoin spot ETF will get approved, Bitcoin will skyrocket to X value, and everybody wins!"
However, January is here already, and it seems that the hopes of investors expecting a spot Bitcoin ETF approval in early January may be dashed, according to a Fox Business reporter.
In an X )formerly Twitter) post, Eleanor Terrett, a Fox reporter covering the crypto niche, said something interesting on Monday.
Terrett stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently examining the modifications made to the S-1 filings for spot Bitcoin ETFs.
For context, the S-1 filings are the documents submitted by Blackrock and the others, outlining the goals, costs, and dangers associated with the suggested ETFs.
Terrett stated that after this round of review, which may take a day or two, the SEC would probably notify the issuers of the deadline for completing their S-1 forms.
Terrett says that something like this happened before the SEC approved Ethereum futures ETFs in October 2023.
In all, Terrett estimates that Tuesday or Wednesday this week "appears close", considering how SEC personnel has not been in the office since Friday because of the holidays.
However, the FOX Business reporter predicts that "the next two weeks will be exciting."
Under the comments, a Twitter user said "I would think Gary (the current SEC chairman) would try to drag this out as long as he can, like he does with everything else"
Several asset managers, including Valkyrie, Fidelity Investments, ARK Invest, Grayscale, WisdomTree, and Invesco, have submitted applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF throughout 2023.
After discussions with the SEC, these issuers modified their filings by decreasing their fees and switching custodians, among other things.
As it turns out, the SEC gave itself until January to make a decision on these filings, even though the agency is free to take longer. Overall, Gary Gensler, the current SEC chairman has cited issues like fraud, market manipulation, and investor safety as the reasons for this delay.
The price of Bitcoin has been rising as a spot Bitcoin ETF approval loomed, despite the uncertainty and delay.
This week, even, CoinMarketCap data shows that the price of Bitcoin exploded upwards above $45,000, and is now sitting at its highest point since its crash below in May 2022.
CoinMarketCap also shows that Bitcoin is currently up by about 6.7% over the last day, and currently trades at around $45,500 at the time of writing.
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