Cryptocurrencies begin the new week with notable gains

Cryptocurrency market saw strong gains this morning. Bitcoin reached its highest levels in a week, reaching the level of $27,995 at approximately 6:00 AM GMT. At the same time, Ethereum also reached the level of $1,588, the highest in a week.

These gains come as the markets await a number of decisions that will be issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding decisions on applications to launch spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Today, we await the decision on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust. Tomorrow, we await a decision on applications to launch five more ETFs.

With this anticipation, the markets are awaiting the next step from the SEC after it reconsidered the decision to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF, after its previous rejection and the court ruling, which ordered the SEC to reconsider its decision.

Also, we have witnessed talk about that the SEC wouldn’t appeal the court’s decision after the expiration of the previously specified period of 45 days, thus not obstructing the launch of the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the US market.

While the SEC is expected to delay the decision on these applications until January of next year, the third deadline.

With this talk, we have seen the discount on of GBTC’s net assets value shrink to the lowest level since 2021, close to 15%. This decrease in the discount value reflects more positive investor sentiment and optimism about the possibility of launching the ETF soon.

This upcoming launch of Bitcoin ETF may constitute a new phase for the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin specifically. This will lead to potentially huge holdings of Bitcoin by these funds. Moreover, it may reflect more confidence on the part of institutional investors in cryptocurrency technology.

But on the other hand, the continued weakness of confidence in general in this sector, along with the continuing existing regulatory concerns, may prevent achieving sustainable and long-term gains, whether for Bitcoin or for other cryptocurrencies.