Yesterday, Bitcoin was comfortably hovering around the $7,000.00 region, a region that seems to suggest investors were playing it cool, in anticipation for something big that could have accelerated the markets. A decision regarding the Bitcoin ETF was expected to come this Friday, however yesterday, things took a turn for the worse.
The recent decision by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend their deadline for another Bitcoin ETF decision however seems to have stabbed a huge hole in our optimism, and of course the value of the markets.
Not all hope is lost just yet.
As it stands, Bitcoin dominance is high, as is the hashrate of Bitcoin, therefore a surge in Bitcoin’s price soon could have a huge impact on the rest of the markets. Though with yesterday’s decision in mind, this surge is unlikely to happen any time soon.
The deadline for a decision had been set for Friday the 10th of August, this would mark 45 days since the SEC issued a notice on this particular ETF application. It is worth noting though that within this, the SEC could extend their deadline to 90 days if they saw fit.
According to Marketwatch.com:
“After a torrid start to August for digital currency owners, participants have shifted their focus to a potential decision on the VanEck and SolidX application for a bitcoin-related exchange-traded-fund. The first date to watch is Aug. 10, which is 45 days since the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a notice on the proposal and when the time in which it would file a response runs out. However, the SEC has said it can push out this response period to 90 days ‘if it finds such longer period to be appropriate.’ Either way, the crypto community have it on their radar.”
Moreover, according to Marketwatch.com, Charles Hayter, a co-founder at Crypto Compare has said:
“The ETF decision is going to be the next catalyst for the market. There’s a lot of uncertainty around the decision, but also a lot of hope. The selloff has found its feet around the $7,000 and traders are now in a ‘wait and see’ mode.”
See more for yourself, here.
So, what happened yesterday?
The SEC have now extended their deadline to the 30th of September 2018, this has been decided in order to give the agency more time to ponder the Bitcoin ETF, in order to explore its effects and of course, in order to explore notions of regulation and other restrictions that could be imposed by the SEC. Indeed, that is if they decide to go ahead and approve it, they could simply just say no.
The official announcement by the SEC states:
“Accordingly, the Commission … designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change.”
Now what?
As we have seen in today’s markets, Bitcoin has reacted very badly to this and thus, as have the rest of the markets. Not all hope is lost and truly, Bitcoin will recover from this. We must understand that, with Bitcoin dominance so high, a recovery from Bitcoin will pull up the value of the other major cryptocurrencies too. Therefore, the reaction we are seeing today is nothing more than that, a reaction.
The markets are sure to see some correction of the weekend and hopefully, by next week we will be back on track for a more positive month in August. After the final decision has been made on the 30th of September though, that’s when we could see some real changes.
If the ETF is approved, Bitcoin might fly. If it’s rejected, then what we are seeing today is just a snapshot of what could be to come.
