It was another dark day for Bitcoin, dropping 10% in price and more than $10 billion in market capitalization in the last 24 hours. As of press time, Bitcoin is trading at $6,350, total market capitalization is at $224 billion, and Bitcoin dominance is at its year-high 48.7%.
Solid X ETF Delay
As of the moment, we are no closer to a Bitcoin ETF despite efforts to address issues that bothers the SEC. The huge drop in Bitcoin price may be attributed to the SEC announcement of delaying the decision on the Solid X ETF, which is sponsored by Solid X Management. The decision was put off until September 30, but reports and insiders say that the SEC is not considering anything other than a lengthy brief on why they will deny the ETF at that time, just like how they denied the Winklevoss ETF last month. The main reason for this is that the Solid X ETF still does not address the issues that worry the SEC about Bitcoin.
According to the SEC, the two major issues about a Bitcoin ETF is that 1) most bitcoin trading occurs offshore on unregulated exchanges and 2) Bitcoin is subject to fraud and manipulation. In an attempt to address this, the Solid X Bitcoin ETF will require a $200,000 price tag to join the club, which will filter out the retail investors. Also, Solid X added a layer of insurance component to protect against theft and fraud.
The ETF is Not the Last and Only Hope
While the ETF will be a huge thing for Bitcoin, it is not the last and only hope for Bitcoin. According to Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, the last asset class that got approved for an ETF was copper. After a multi-year process, it only got approved in 2012, which builds the case for Bitcoin ETF to be approved eventually, but with a long tedious process.
NYSE Parent Company Launched Crypto Exchange
In the last 3-4 business days, there have been two big pieces of news: the rejection of the ETF for the fifth time and NYSE parent company launch of a crypto exchange. While most of the retail investors pulled their money out of the crypto market due to the ETF rejection, the New York Stock Exchange’s launch of a cryptocurrency exchange should attract more investors in the coming days.
On Friday, the NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) partnered with Microsoft, Starbucks, and others to launch Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange that leverages the existing cloud solutions of Microsoft.
This is huge news that could potentially bring the cryptomarket back to its feet and resume the uptrend. As for now, much of the cryptocurrency market is still on a downtrend with recovery still far from sight.
