On August 29, the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin soared to a high of $28,000 Grayscale victory. However, this gain has now been lost US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to delay decision making on seven Spot ETF filings.
Bitcoin crashes below $26,000
Bitcoin fell more than 4% to $26,000 as SEC extended timeline to decide on ETF applications Black rock, WisdomTreeInvesco, Fidelity, Valkyrie, VanEck and Bitwise.
This price action stands in contrast to when the cryptocurrency had reacted positively to news of Grayscale’s victory, with the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling pronunciation in favor of the asset manager against the Commission.
Many had been looking forward to the SEC’s decision on these ETF filings following Grayscale’s win, hoping that the legal loss would have softened the regulator’s appetite to approve these filings.
However, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas had declared rather that he wouldn’t be “surprised” if the SEC delayed these filings. In his view, these timelines may not be that important, as the SEC will likely still “give in” at some point, and we will eventually see the approval of these filings.
After this extension, the SEC has an additional 45 days to review these applications and choose whether to approve, deny, or defer its decision. The regulator also has a maximum of 240 days to decide whether or not to approve these applications. However, there are a number of important deadlines in between.
BTC price falls below $26,000 following SEC decision | Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview.com
What’s next for BTC?
Many have projected the approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF as one of the key events that could trigger a significant rise in Bitcoin’s price (as we saw how the market reacted after Grayscale’s victory). However, the SEC’s decision to delay these filings shows that it is not yet ready to back down, and there could be continued resistance to the approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF.
While the approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF remains uncertain, Bitcoin could remain in the red throughout the month. According to historical factsSeptember is always known to be a bearish period for the price of Bitcoin, as digital assets have closed in the red most often at the end of September.
Meanwhile, October looks promising, as there are important days to watch Bloomberg analyst James Seffart noted that the SEC’s next deadline for these ETF filings is in October. So are Ethereum Futures ETFs expected which will start in October, which could be a big boost for the market.
Despite this, analysts have no hope that Bitcoin will reach new highs this year predicts that Bitcoin could consolidate between $25,000 and $32,000 for the rest of this year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I see it #Bitcoin consolidate between $25,000 – $32,000 for the remainder of 2023. pic.twitter.com/2BihBPZaCJ
— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) August 31, 2023
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com