BitcoinBTC 0.0% and ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies, have rocketed higher this week following BlackRock’sBLK 0.0% bitcoin bombshell (and partly due to a surprise move by China).
The bitcoin price has topped $30,000 per bitcoin, matching the level it reached in March ahead of a U.S.-led crypto crackdown, and boosting the combined bitcoin, ethereum and crypto market by around $100 billion in just a week.
Now, as BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) bid triggers a flood of filings, the billionaire cofounder of New York-based crypto exchange Gemini, Cameron Winklevoss, has warned the “window” to buy bitcoin before the ETF “floodgates” open is “closing fast.”
“The great accumulation of bitcoin has begun,” Cameron Winklevoss, who along with his brother Tyler pivoted to bitcoin and crypto after settling their dispute with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of the social media company, posted to Twitter.
“Anyone watching the flurry of ETF filings understands the window to purchase pre-IPO bitcoin before ETFs go live and open the floodgates is closing fast,” he wrote, suggesting the arrival of institutional investors will resemble an initial public offering (IPO) of bitcoin.
06/26 update: The U.S. SEC approved the first leveraged bitcoin futures ETF late last week, with the Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) now scheduled to launch on the Chicago Board Options BZX Exchange tomorrow, Tuesday, June 27.
“It’s exciting to see digital assets in the ETF wrapper,” Volatility Shares chief investment officer Stuart Barton toldCoindesk, feeding expectations that regulators could wave through BlackRock’s landmark ETF application.
“I think this could be a breadcrumb signifying that the SEC may be taking a more lenient stance towards bitcoin compared to the very adversarial stance they have had over the last few years,” Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart toldBloomberg.
Wall Street giants Invesco, Wisdom Tree and Valkyrie followed BlackRock with their own applications for bitcoin spot ETFs with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). BlackRock—the world’s largest asset manager with around $10 trillion in assets under management—offers hundreds of ETFs globally.
“While crypto still needs more than favorable macroeconomic tailwinds and institutional inflows into bitcoin, this is a welcoming development that reminds investors that crypto is here to stay,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, wrote in an emailed note.
