Investing.com - The Bitcoin briefly tested the $30,000 threshold on Wednesday evening, marking a low of $29,900, and confirming in the process the strength of the $30K support, which is an encouraging signal.
Hopes that a Bitcoin spot ETF will soon be approved by the SEC continue to support the cryptocurrency, after having been behind the rally seen the previous week.
Indeed, the filing of an ETF proposal by BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), the world's largest asset manager, had sparked optimism, an optimism that was subsequently sustained by other proposals, notably from Invesco and Wisdom Tree.
Since yesterday, however, attention has focused on the Bitcoin Spot ETF proposal from Ark Invest, Cathie Wood's management company.
It emerged on Wednesday that Ark Invest had amended its ETF proposal to include a monitoring agreement with the CBOE and an unnamed crypto platform.
However, it should be remembered that BlackRock's ETF proposal had generated so much optimism because it also included a surveillance agreement (with Nasdaq), which could effectively respond to the SEC's argument about the risks of market manipulation.
Given that Ark Invest's proposal now contains a similar amendment, and given that Cathie Wood's company's proposal predates BlackRock's, this effectively positions Ark Invest as first in line for potential SEC approval.
Commenting on the news, Eric Balchunas, ETF specialist at Bloomberg, pointed out that the SEC's decision on Ark Invest's ETF is expected in August. In this regard, he felt that "a delay (of the SEC's decision) would be a bad signal for approval, unless they delay and then approve BlackRock's proposal, which would show favouritism."
It should be noted that the SEC's decision on Ark Invest's Bitcoin Spot ETF is expected on 13 August, while no date has yet been set for BlackRock.
The date of 13 August will therefore be a red cross, because a refusal by the SEC could send Bitcoin plummeting, just as an approval could send it soaring.
Recall that Ark filed its first Bitcoin ETF application in June 2021 with global crypto ETF provider 21Shares, an application that was rejected earlier this year by the SEC, which once again cited an inability to prove that they can prevent market manipulation by crypto-currency traders.
However, last Friday the SEC approved the first leveraged ETF on bitcoin futures. The exchange-traded fund, BITX, traded for the first time yesterday, recording a successful launch, with $5.5 million traded for the day.
(Article translated from French using DeepL)