Bitcoin Falls After Brief Spike as BlackRock Rejects Report on Bitcoin ETF Spot Approval

bitcoin soared to over $30,000 on incorrect reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved a spot bitcoin ETF, then fell when fund manager BlackRock confirmed the application was still under review.

bitcoin had risen as much as 10% following the reports, but was trading at $28,055 as of 11:25 a.m. ET, still up about 4.3% over the past 24 hours.

Several media outlets quickly reported that BlackRock had denied that its BlackRock iShares Spot bitcoin ETF was approved, as CoinTelegraph had tweeted.

“The iShares bitcoin ETP application is still under review by the SEC,” BlackRock told Reuters, using the acronym for exchange-traded product.

We apologize for a tweet that caused inaccurate information to be spread about the Blackrock bitcoin ETF.

An internal investigation is currently underway. We are committed to transparency and will share the investigation findings with the public once it is…

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 16, 2023

CoinTelegraph’s tweet about the ETF approval helped send markets into a frenzy. He later modified his tweet by adding the word “supposedly,” before deleting it entirely.

He later apologized for the tweet, said he was investigating how it happened and would reveal his findings within three hours.

Pressure intensifies on SEC to approve bitcoin spot ETFs

Pressure on the SEC to approve bitcoin spot ETFs intensified after Grayscale Investments won a landmark court victory over the SEC in late August, with the judge calling the regulator’s decision to approve bitcoin futures ETFs, but not bitcoin spot ETFs, as “arbitrary and capricious.” The SEC will not appeal that decision, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Former BlackRock head Steven Schoenfield says bitcoin spot ETFs could be approved as early as January and could attract up to $200 billion into bitcoin investment products.

research company bernstein says the approval of crypto spot ETFs will help crypto assets under management grow up to 13-fold over the next five years to reach $650 billion. tThe crypto fund management industry is on the cusp of a transformation from a “cottage industry” to a sector with $50 billion in revenue over the period, he said.

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