Bitcoin was able to consolidate, touching the $37,800 level yesterday evening, before returning to approximately 37,300. Ethereum is also trying to maintain levels above $2050 since yesterday evening.
It seems that the markets are still trying to get rid of the negative sentiment that came with the return of judicial events to the forefront again, after the founder and CEO of the Binance confessed to the charges against him and agreed to pay a fine of $4.3 billion, and this was what was subsequent to the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (SEC) filed against the third largest crypto exchange, Kraken, with several charges.
Yesterday, talk about spot Bitcoin funds returned to the headlines again. Grayscale has applied to launch a Global Composite Bitcoin ETF, which will carry the symbol BTC.
The asset manager’s move comes despite its long-standing application to convert Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot ETF.
This new application to launch a BTC ETF comes within a number of amendments to the previous application regarding GBTC, which may appear to be an attempt by Grayscale to enhance the possibility of the authority’s approval, after a previous meeting between the two parties this week.
It was also reported that asset management giant, BlackRock, has held a meeting with the SEC regarding the iShares Bitcoin Trust.
It seems that the new news, although it does not indicate any fundamental developments, has enabled the markets to overcome the negative news that came from the courts, which would have further weakened confidence in the sector.
But reading this news together, and according to what analysts also see, the next stage ahead for Binance, in which it will be subject to close double monitoring by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Treasury for several years to ensure compliance with the laws, may reduce regulators’ concerns about the possibility of manipulating prices in the market and add more transparency in the sector.
This, in turn, may increase the possibility that the SEC may approve the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs sometime next year, as one of the biggest concerns about these ETFs is the risks of price manipulation.
As for derivatives markets linked to Bitcoin, we may witness more momentum tomorrow and in the coming days. According to data provided by Deribit, tomorrow will be the execution date for what are equivalent of more than $4 billion worth of options contracts for Bitcoin, which they are more than 107 thousand contracts, which represent part of more than 14 billion options outstanding. While the put/call ratio is 0.82 for options whose execution date falls tomorrow.
This coincides with a further record rise in the value of open interests for Bitcoin futures contracts, which reached approximately $15.93 billion, which represents a new highest level not seen since April of last year.
