ALBAWABA - On Jan. 10, the SEC approved a new set of rules that would draw a clear path for Crypto exchange-traded funds to trade on the spot market, with experts like Catherine Clay, Cboe Global Markets, seeing this as a valid next step for blockchain tokens.
The day after these laws went into place, multiple online exchanges did in fact offer the new ETFs for trading, with The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recording tens of millions of shares exchanged on the first day worth billions.
These new developments caused a loud spark in the crypto space with experts anticipating a flow of new Crypto products to clear through regulations and be offered on platforms soon, "Folks who might not have been traditionally speculating on crypto directly in the crypto ecosystem are now going to have something to play with" said Dave Nadig, financial futurist at VettaFi.
Nadig added that a zenith of Bitcoin products would be Zer-Day-Options (0DTEs), which are contracts that expire on the same day they are exchanged. Catherine Clay, on the other hand, warns of unprecedented optimism as Crypto options have not been cleared by regulations and might be far away from receiving the green light.
While ETFs are the pinnacle of talks regarding Crypto, on the other hand, the SEC is fighting a harsh legal battle against Coinbase and Binance that started last June, on the premises that these platforms listed different tokens while being unregistered securities. According to an SEC attorney, the actual transactions made during the hearing were what made the token a security rather than the token itself.
Elliot Z. Stein, a Bloomberg analyst, has recently argued that Coinbase has a solid case to go for a complete dismissal of the SEC claims, suggesting that the exchange has a 70 percent chance of winning on a post on X (previously Twitter).
The recent regulatory changes had Bitcoin seeing a bullish move, topping at $49,000 on the first day of ETFs trades, but later dropping under $47,000, the decentralized token continued its downturn, reaching $41,700 as of today.
