Bitcoin ETF approval granted by the SEC

THE US Securities and Exchange Commission this evening confirmed it has granted approval for Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Issuing a detailed document on its website, the SEC approval was awarded to 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, including Grayscale, BlackRock, VanEck, Bitwise, Fidelity, Franklin, Valkyrie, Hashdex, Ark Invest, Invesco Galaxy and WisdomTree.

The announcement was, however, met with muted enthusiasm largely due to a fake announcement being made yesterday when the SEC's own Twitter account was hacked.

Analysts had anticipated a surge in the price of Bitcoin, but the flagship cryptocurrency barely budged from its current $46,000 range.

Industry leaders, however, were more rhapsodic in their response to the announcement.

Fadi Aboualfa, Head of Research at Copper - the digital assets custodian for several ETP providers, such as 21 Shares - suggested the approval was a pivotal moment for cryptocurrency.‍

"Over five years since what was seen as the first Bitcoin bubble, we now enter a new open market era where bad actors have been removed and the development of the digital asset ecosystem will be in line with the regulatory protections investors expect," he said.‍

“The bigger story behind the Bitcoin ETF approval is why and how the industry has finally crossed this milestone over a decade after the first application. Since the start, the SEC has always asked for surveillance sharing agreements with markets of significant size; clearly the regulator believes that the cryptocurrency markets have matured and are in fact efficient, transparent, and void of market manipulation that would not allow them to protect investors, a key part of their mandate."