Bitcoin Spot ETF Approval: The ‘Most Important’ Short-Term Catalyst For BTC Price?

The Bitcoin price has been on a mesmeric run in the past few weeks, largely due to talks of the potential approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF (exchange-traded fund) in the United States. And there has been broad commentary about what is to come for the premier cryptocurrency should the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlight the current applications for a spot ETF.

Cantor Fitzgerald, a prominent investment and brokerage firm, is amongst the latest entities to weigh in on the possibility and the potential impact of a Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States.

Here’s Why Cantor Fitzgerald Thinks Bitcoin Spot ETF Will Be Approved 

According to a Bloomberg report, Josh Siegler and Will Carlson, research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, are becoming “increasingly confident” that the highly-anticipated Bitcoin spot ETF would receive the approval of the SEC in the US. 

The Cantor Fitzgerald analysts believe that the SEC, which has been reluctant to approve the Bitcoin investment product due to various market concerns, is now more likely to greenlight the modified and newly filed applications.

The report highlighted that “a comprehensive surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market of significant size” might force the hands of the SEC. Interestingly, all the pending spot ETF filings appear to now include a surveillance-sharing agreement in order to detect and address market irregularities.

Furthermore, Cantor’s analysts mentioned the recent ruling in favor of Grayscale, which overturned the SEC’s rejection of the asset manager’s proposal to convert its Bitcoin trust into an ETF. Siegler and Carlson added:

Ultimately, the court found that the SEC failed to explain why it approved Bitcoin futures ETFs, but rejected Grayscale’s spot offering, despite substantial evidence that the two products are similar, across several regulatory factors.

Finally, Siegler and Carlson believe “a Bitcoin spot ETF approval is the most important short-term catalyst for Bitcoin’s price.” To support this assertion, the analysts cited the latest price rally by the premier cryptocurrency, which all began with an erroneous headline that BlackRock’s ETF had been approved.

The Cantor Fitzgerald analysts added:

The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US will be “a bedrock moment” for Bitcoin’s long-term adoption and legitimization.

Bitcoin Price Overview

As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at $34,104, with a negligible 0.2% increase in the past 24 hours. The market leader has been moving mostly sideways since failing to close above $35,000 – its highest level in almost 18 months – earlier this week.

Nevertheless, BTC has maintained a huge portion of its profit on the weekly timeframe, with a substantial 13.2% gain in the past seven days. Meanwhile, the premier cryptocurrency has jumped nearly 27% in the past two weeks, according to CoinGecko data.

Bitcoin price thickens on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView