While it continues to trade roughly 1% higher on the day, Bitcoin (BTC) has seen an abrupt reversal back from the new year-to-date highs it hit close to $38,000 and was last trading just above $36,000.
Traders put the abrupt reversal down to reports that BlackRock had set up a new corporate entity called the iShares Ethereum Trust in Delaware, prompting a rotation of funds from Bitcoin into Ether.
BlackRock set up the iShares Bitcoin Trust seven days prior to applying to create a spot Bitcoin ETF with the SEC in June, and so the spike in the ETH price plus rotation out of BTC appears to reflect optimism that spot Ethereum ETFs are set to receive approval shortly after spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Ether has significantly underperformed Bitcoin in recent weeks and throughout 2023, up 70% year-to-date versus Bitcoin’s gains of over 120%.
Part of this differential in performance has been because optimism about spot Bitcoin ETF approvals, so with BlackRock seemingly now making moves to set up a spot Ether ETF, ETH is potentially set to close the gap on Bitcoin in the weeks and months ahead, hence the rush to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency.
Of course, while the news of BlackRock’s moves to set up a spot Ethereum ETF have weighed on Bitcoin has weighed on the BTC price intra-day, this isn’t bearish news for Bitcoin.
Some bears might argue that a greater choice of ETF to invest in (i.e. spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot ETH ETFs) might mean that less funds end up flowing into the highly anticipated spot Bitcoin ETFs.
But news that BlackRock is making moves to set up spot Ethereum ETFs is very much in fitting with the bullish narrative that financial institutions are set to increase their adoption of crypto in the coming years (Bitcoin, Ether and
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