Optimism that the SEC will soon approve a spot Bitcoin ETF is growing and this is sending Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market higher on Friday. Bitcoin was last trading in the mid-$29,000s, up over 3% in the last 24 hours and up nearly 11% in the last seven days, as per CoinGecko.
The list of major institutions (most recently JP Morgan) and analysts who have publicly stated they expect near-term spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in the US is rapidly rising, and the general public also appears to be taking a greater interest in the topic of Bitcoin ETFs, as shown by rising interest in those search terms according to Google Trends.
Several institutions that filed applications tweaked those applications this week, which many market participants interpreted as a good sign that the SEC and these applicants are in constructive dialogue with each other. Meanwhile, one week ago, the SEC purposefully missed a deadline to appeal a recent legal loss they sustained in a lawsuit versus digital asset manager Grayscale – in late August, a judge ordered a review of their rejection of Grayscale’s application to transform their Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF.
“If the SEC is about the approve a batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months, why would they continue to fight against Grayscale, or so the thinking goes,” said an anonymous industry expert.
Adding to the market’s upbeat mode on Friday was another setback for the SEC in its lawsuit against XRP issuer Ripple Labs – the SEC opted to drop its charges against two key Ripple Labs executives, which the agency claims aided and abetted the sale of XRP to investors (which the SEC is claiming are unregistered securities). Markets interpreted the decision to drop legal action against these executives as a sign that legal momentum remains firmly in the hands of Ripple Labs, hence why XRP has jumped 6.8% in the last 24 hours to above $0.52, its highest level in around 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, other cryptocurrencies are also experiencing positive momentum. Ether (ETH) was last up around 3% in the last 24 hours, Solana (SOL) was last up around 5.8%, Cardano (ADA) was up around 1%, and Dogecoin (DOGE) was up around 2.4%. While these are solid gains, it is important to note that exponential gains in a short period of time are typically found in the highly illiquid shitcoin/meme coin market.
