Bitcoin (BTC) is facing turbulence amid asset managers filing last-minute Form S-1 updates for their spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Jan. 9, the price of Bitcoin briefly fell 3% on Binance, tumbling from $47,000 to $45,600 in five minutes, according to data from TradingView. It quickly bounced back to nearly $47,000, trading at $46,717 at the time of writing.
The spike in volatility came amid asset managers like BlackRock and VanEck filing more S-1 updates just a day before the expected spot Bitcoin ETF approval date on Jan. 10. ARK Invest and 21Shares followed BlackRock and VanEck, filing their S-1 amendments on Jan. 9 as well. Grayscale Investments also joined the scramble, updating its S-3 form.
According to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the S-1 refilings are based on last-minute comments from the SEC on Jan. 9.
“Hard to tell what has changed at first glance, but imp thing is that the unheard of 24hr turnaround time about filing, comments and re-filing tells us all parties aiming to get this show on road pronto,” Balchunas said.
Related: Spot Bitcoin ETF capital: Could funds potentially buy up all BTC in circulation?
The last-minute S-1 refilings came the day after 10 asset managers filed their S-1 updates on Jan. 8, with several analysts expecting the S-1s to be final before the much-anticipated approval date on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The SEC subsequently issued additional comments on those S-1 filings, which some industry observers have interpreted as a “delay signal.”
SPOT BITCOIN ETF UPDATE: The SEC just issued additional comments on pending applicant's S-1s. This is a delay signal. #BitcoinETF #bitcoin
— Perianne (@PerianneDC) January 9, 2024
However, ETF watchers like Bloomberg’s James Seyffart argued that those additional comments by the SEC do not necessarily mean a delay. “Expect to see more amendments tomorrow because of this,” Seyffart said.
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