ETF Expectations: The Crypto Market’s Awakening

As cryptocurrencies have gradually entered the mainstream over the past decade, starting with Grayscale's GBTC, the inflow of capital channels in traditional markets has attracted more and more attention from the cryptocurrency market. The recent market recovery is closely related to traditional institutions: According to CoinShares’ crypto asset flow data statistics, starting from the beginning of October, except for a small amount of selling in one week in December, there have been net inflows for more than ten consecutive weeks. The price of Bitcoin has also risen from around US$25,000 to over US$45,000.

The market generally believes that this is a reflection of investors’ market expectations that the U.S. SEC will pass a number of traditional asset management giants’ Bitcoin spot ETFs in January.

According to past ETF approval processes, the longest time it takes for the SEC to issue final approval is 240 days. Hashdex, Ark & 21 shares are the earliest institutions in this batch to submit applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs. The deadline for SEC approval is January 10, 2024. If this Bitcoin spot ETF is approved, there is a high probability that subsequent Bitcoin spot ETFs from institutions such as BlackRock and Fidelity will also be approved.

Before the U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF was approved, the capital market already had compliant channels to obtain exposure to crypto assets. As early as 2013, Grayscale's GBTC was already online, and investors were able to purchase shares of the GBTC trust through traditional brokerage channels, thereby holding Bitcoin indirectly.

In the past few years, hundreds of ETPs related to crypto assets have been launched in Europe on traditional trading markets. Investors in relevant regions can purchase crypto assets through traditional channels. Large asset management giants also issue Bitcoin spot ETF products in non-U.S. capital markets, such as Fidelity's Bitcoin spot ETF FBTC, which will be launched and traded on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in 2021.

There is no shortage of channels to purchase crypto assets in the market, so why is everyone paying so much attention to the U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF? What are the differences between this type of product and existing compliant crypto asset purchase channels? #BTC #etf #XAI #BONK #Launchpool