Bitcoin price remains uninfluenced from SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comments on spot BTC ETF
- Bitcoin price swung from $41,500 to $43,400 before falling back down to $42,800 in the past 24 hours.
- SEC Chair Gensler, in an interview, accepted that court ruling is the only reason for reconsidering approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs
- On the other hand, Montenegro’s Prime Minister is discussing the potential of issuing “Bitcoin hydro bonds” by leveraging river networks.
Bitcoin price noted volatility on Thursday after the cryptocurrency oscillated in both upward and downward directions owing to mixed signals from the market. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair discussed the upcoming spot BTC ETFs, sharing insights on how their decision has been affected by the courts.
Daily Digest Market Movers: SEC Chair holds court responsible for spot Bitcoin ETF
The spot Bitcoin ETF is set to be the biggest Bitcoin event of 2024 before the halving in April. The market is expecting the beginning of the bull run as the SEC will likely approve the dozen spot BTC ETF applications by early January next year.
Discussing the same in an interview, the Chair of the Commission, Gary Gensler, known for his anti-crypto stance, stated that it was the courts that made the SEC reconsider the ETF. He stated,
“We had in the past denied a number of these applications, but the courts here in DC weighed in on that. So we’re taking a new look at this based upon those court rulings.
This is not surprising since the only reason the spot Bitcoin ETFs are so close to approval is because Grayscale won the court’s favor when it filed the lawsuit against the regulator earlier this year.
However, the lack of support, even at this stage, despite holding multiple meetings with applicants, did not seem to take too well with BTC holders.
On the other hand, the very same day, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, reportedly held a meeting with JAN3 CEO Samson Maw, a hyberbitcoinization accelerator, to discuss Bitcoin “hydro bonds”. Per reports, Spajić intends to leverage and take advantage of the network of rivers in the country.
.@Excellion, @bvanhool, and @princfilip1 had the honor of meeting @MickeySpajic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro.
— JAN3 (@JAN3com) December 14, 2023
The JAN3 team initiated a fruitful discussion on how #Bitcoin can help Montenegro harness untapped hydroelectric potential and much more. pic.twitter.com/CXJLwnYurn
If the country goes through with these bonds, Montenegro would be following in the footsteps of El Salvador, which announced its “volcano bonds” back in 2021. These bonds were intended to raise $1 billion, half of which would be dedicated towards the Bitcoin city that would be built by capitalizing on the energy emitted by the nearby volcano.
This, unlike Gensler’s comments, had a positive impact on the price, resulting in the swing.
Technical Analysis: Bitcoin price makes progress
Bitcoin price, at the time of writing, could be seen hovering around $42,950 after the fluctuation observed on Thursday. Following the positive and negative reaction from the market, the cryptocurrency rallied to $43,500 and declined to $41,500 before making its way back to the trading price.
Nevertheless, this did not impact the short-term outlook for price action, which is making its way towards $45,000 before the end of the year. The price indicators - Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) - are exhibiting bullishness persisting in the market.
This is a sign that going forward, Bitcoin price will test $43,000 and $42,500 as support in order to secure a rally to $44,000 and beyond.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart
However, if BTC falls through the $42,000 support, it will have a shot at bouncing back from $40,000 but falling through it would invalidate the bullish thesis, likely sending Bitcoin price to $38,000.
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
What are altcoins?
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
What are stablecoins?
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
What is Bitcoin Dominance?
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.
Author
Aaryamann Shrivastava
FXStreet
Aaryamann Shrivastava is a Cryptocurrency journalist and market analyst with over 1,000 articles under his name. Graduated with an Honours in Journalism, he has been part of the crypto industry for more than a year now.
