SEC officially approves Bitcoin spot ETF, but Bitcoin price lags behind Ether at this time

According to the announcement by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC has officially approved 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs, including Bitwise, Grayscale, Hashdex, BlackRock, Valkyrie, Invesco, Ark, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Franklin. The issuers are expected to begin trading on the stock exchange as early as 1/11.

Chair Gary Gensler Continues to Warn of Crypto Risks

The SEC has also released a statement from Chair Gary Gensler, in which he stated:

Today's action by the Commission is limited to an exchange-traded product holding a single non-security commodity, bitcoin. It should not be read as a signal that the Commission is willing to approve listing standards for crypto asset securities.

Gensler reiterated that without prejudging any crypto asset, the vast majority of crypto assets are investment contracts and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of federal securities laws.

He compared it to commodities like gold ETPs, which have consumer and industrial uses, whereas bitcoin is primarily a speculative and volatile asset used for illicit activities such as ransomware, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing.

Therefore, although the SEC has approved the listing and trading of certain physically-backed bitcoin ETP shares, we have not approved or endorsed bitcoin. Investors should exercise caution regarding the risks associated with products tied to bitcoin and its value in the context of cryptocurrencies.

According to a tweet by Fox Business reporter Eleanor Tereett, the SEC did indeed vote on the approval of a bitcoin physically-backed ETF, with Chair Gensler voting in favor.

🚨NEW: Turns out the @SECGov DID hold a vote on the $BTC Spot ETFs.

Here’s the voting breakdown:

Gensler: Approved
Peirce: Approved
Uyeda: Approved
Crenshaw: Not Approved
Lizárraga: Not Approved pic.twitter.com/LWcraQpoQF

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 10, 2024

BTC sell the news? ETH Takes the Lead

Following the announcement, bitcoin briefly surged to $47,695 but failed to break the previous day's high of $47,972 amid the SEC hack incident. Does this once again confirm the "sell the news" narrative for bitcoin physically-backed ETFs?

SEC Hacked with Fake News! SEC Chair Gary Gensler Manipulates Market Ahead of Bitcoin Physically-Backed ETF Approval

In contrast, Ethereum continued to reach new recent highs, with ETH prices at $2,591 at the time of writing, having reached a high of $2,643. This also aligns with our previous report that after the bitcoin ETF, market focus shifts to pursuing an Ethereum ETF. Is there potential for ETH/BTC to replicate the 2020 halving, starting from a low point?

History repeating itself? ETH/BTC falls below the low point from two years ago, can it replicate the trend of the 2020 halving?