BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on DTCC, marking a milestone for Grayscale GBTC's conversion.
Bitcoin: "Massive surge, you can't even imagine"
After several developments with the Bitcoin spot ETF overnight, market sentiment in crypto has heated up rapidly. Last night, Bitcoin experienced a rare and significant surge.
OKX's market shows that BTC briefly broke through 35,000 USDT, spiking to a high of 35,919 USDT, with a daily gain of 20%. It's extremely rare to see such massive intraday moves in major coins. Even at the current price, there's still an impressive 11.38% increase over the past 24 hours.
The strong rally has already flattened the hourly candlestick chart into a straight line. And driven by “Big Cake” (BTC), the long-dormant “Second Cake” (altcoin) has also slightly kept up with this upswing. ETH briefly broke above $1,800, and it is still hovering near the $1,800 area, with a “mere” 6.41% gain over the past 24 hours.
The ETH/BTC exchange rate, meanwhile, is still trending downward and has not shown signs of a rebound.
Among the top ten tokens by market value today, none has a 24-hour gain that outperforms BTC. Only SOL (Solana) and DOGE (Dogecoin) are close to BTC’s rise, at 10.8% and 10.4% respectively.
Of course, there have also been breakouts among smaller local coins, with particular attention on the Bitcoin ecosystem. RIF (RSK Infrastructure Framework RIF) is currently quoted at $0.14, up 21% over 24 hours; STX (Stacks) is quoted at $0.74, up 16.3% over 24 hours; and ORDI is quoted at $5.4, up 33% over 24 hours.
Driven by the overall market uptrend, the total market value of cryptocurrencies has also grown rapidly. Coingecko data shows that the total market cap of crypto has now surpassed $1.29 trillion, up 9.8% over the past 24 hours. Trading enthusiasm among crypto users has clearly increased: today’s Fear and Greed Index is 66, which corresponds to “Greed.” Yesterday, this figure was still 53.
As for derivatives trading, according to Coinglass data, over the past 24 hours the entire network saw liquidations totaling $352 million, of which $275 million were liquidations of short positions. By coin, BTC liquidations totaled $194 million and ETH liquidations totaled $47 million.
BlackRock ETF: Clear progress
This rally has been mainly driven by expectations of approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Late yesterday evening, after BlackRock filed an S-1 amendment, it showed that BlackRock has obtained the CUSIP number needed to issue a spot Bitcoin ETF.
CUSIP stands for the Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures. This number is also used as the U.S. securities uniform identification code.
The filing also shows that BlackRock is preparing Seed Capital for a spot Bitcoin ETF. Seed Capital refers to the underlying assets purchased by the issuing company itself when the new ETF is launched, to meet expected future demand for the product.
Although the CUSIP number does not necessarily point to the ETF being approved, the market still views this news as a major step forward for an ETF. The same is true for Seed Capital.
BlackRock’s preparations are currently thorough and fast. Although it remains unknown whether the ETF will ultimately be approved, the market widely interprets it as BlackRock having a high degree of confidence in its own ETF’s approval.
And earlier today, an even bigger piece of news emerged. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on DTCC under the code IBTC.
DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) is the U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation—an American financial services company founded in 1999. The company is made up of five clearing corporations and one depository, providing clearing and settlement services for financial markets.
Assuming the ETF receives final approval and investors will operate it through Nasdaq, IBTC will be the stock ticker code used to represent the ETF. This also injects strong confidence into the market: Bitcoin surged to today’s high, at one point nearing $36,000.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said: “BlackRock may have already received the green light, or it may just be a prediction and everything has been prepared. We still believe that multiple ETFs will be launched together, rather than BlackRock being the first to get approved on its own.”
More ETFs are still on the way
Apart from BlackRock, other crypto ETFs in the applications have also brought more good news to the market.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has officially ruled in the lawsuit between Grayscale and the SEC, requiring the SEC to reconsider its application to convert Grayscale’s GBTC into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
The SEC can now choose to approve Grayscale’s application or reject it for other reasons. After Grayscale spokesperson Jennifer Rosenthal wrapped up the case on Monday, she issued a statement saying, “The Grayscale team looks forward to continuing constructive cooperation with the SEC to convert GBTC into an ETF. GBTC is operationally ready and plans to take action on behalf of investors as soon as possible.”
Grayscale’s Ethereum ETF has also reached its own milestone moment, achieving major progress.
The CEO of The ETF Store, Nate Geraci, wrote on X that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged Grayscale’s spot Ethereum ETF filing. This will be part of the process to convert ETHE into an ETF. The launch of a spot ETF will also bring additional incremental capital into the market, pushing Bitcoin’s price higher.
However, it’s important to note that this acknowledgment only means the SEC has accepted its application and will soon enter the formal review process. There is still a considerable distance to final approval.
In a report, Singapore crypto financial services firm Matrixport said that if BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF receives approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitcoin’s price could rise to between $42,000 and $56,000. In addition, based on an analysis of 15,000 U.S. registered investment advisers, Matrixport expects that approximately $12 billion to $24 billion could flow into such ETFs.
As market expectations for ETF approval grow stronger, how long will this round of rally last—will it be only a short-term rebound, or the start of a new cycle?
Author | Loopy
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