Bitcoin rises past $45,000 amid US spot bitcoin ETF approval anticipation

Companies • January 1, 2024, 9:01PM EST

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

Bitcoin traded above $45,000 at one stage on Tuesday morning in Asia before retreating as investors anticipate a potential spot bitcoin ETF approval in the U.S.

Bitcoin rose above $45,000 at one stage on Tuesday morning in Asia amid investors’ anticipation of a potential approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

The largest crypto by market capitalization climbed 5.8% over the past 24 hours to trade at $44,965 at 9:25 a.m. Hong Kong time after it surged to as high as $45,083 at one stage in the morning, according to The Block data.

The price movement comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may reportedly notify the 14 asset managers if the SEC would approve their spot bitcoin ETF applications as early as Tuesday or Wednesday ahead of the Jan. 10 deadline.

“There's nothing much happening on the macro side that would lead one to believe it's anything but a crypto-related dynamic,” Justin d'Anethan, head of APAC business development of crypto market maker Keyrock, told The Block.

“In this case, we've had news of Blackrock, Fidelity and other spot bitcoin ETF applicants confirming names of the brokers that would support their BTC operations (so far: Jane Street, JP Morgan, Cantor Fitzgerald),” d'Anethan said, adding that such news “solidifies the current narrative that ETFs are coming and they're coming soon.”

“Most investors expect some kind of official decision by the first half of this month, so imminently,” he continued.

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About Authors

Timmy Shen is an Asia editor for The Block. Previously, he wrote about crypto and Web3 for Forkast.News from Taiwan after spending more than three years in Beijing covering finance and current affairs at Caixin Global and Chinese tech at TechNode. His China-related reporting has also appeared in The Guardian. When he's not chasing headlines, you'll find him savoring hot pot and shabu shabu in a Taipei local haunt. Timmy holds an MS degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Send tips to [email protected] or get in touch on X/Telegram @timmyhmshen.

Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.