BlackRock’s proposed Bitcoin ETF ($IBTC) mysteriously disappeared from the DTCC site, only to reappear hours later. The DTCC site also crashed.
Bitcoin has enjoyed its strongest rally of the year this week, gaining 20% in 7 days. The surge was fuelled primarily by speculation that BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF will soon gain approval from the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).
Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, noticed that the iShares Bitcoin Trust (BlackRock’s ETF) was listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), under the ticker $IBTC, on October 23. (It has been there since August, Reuters reported).
Although this technically doesn’t allude to its regulatory status, the DTCC clears NASDAQ trades and is a significant intermediary in bringing new ETFs to market.
Read more: What’s behind the Bitcoin pump? 3 key factors, explained
Shortly after appearing on the site however, the ticker disappeared for a few hours, driving Bitcoin back down by 3%.
The ticker has since reappeared, where it remains at the time of writing.
Joe Light, a crypto writer at Barron’s, tweeted, “Wow, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBTC) appears to be back. What is happening?”.
The DTCC site also crashed – likely due to an atypical traffic surge.
Under normal circumstances, the DTCC website “lives behind the scenes,” Balchunas said, describing it as typically “very boring”.
He added that the mania speaks to the “uniqueness and intensity of this entire saga”, adding the prospect of a spot Bitcoin ETF is a “one of one” situation.
The market is hinged upon the BlackRock ETF
The SEC currently has 12 spot Bitcoin ETF applications on its desk, including Ark Invest, Fidelity, WisdomTree and more.
None however influence the market as strongly as BlackRock, which has an eye-popping $9 trillion assets under management.
When BlackRock first revealed its application, Bitcoin saw strong bullish price action, surging past the psychological mark of $30,000. Further signs of approval pushed the crypto up to $35,066, a 17-month high.
Approval of BlackRock’s ETF would signal a huge shift toward the institutional adoption of Bitcoin, leading to improved regulation, reduced volatility and overall positive sentiment.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading just shy of $34K at $33,867, CoinGecko data shows.
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