Bitcoin shorts lose $16m as blackrock ETF filing sparks bullish outlook

Hopes surrounding a potential U.S. Bitcoin ETF filing by investment giant BlackRock spurred a slight change in market movements early on Friday, fueling a bullish outlook among some traders.

On Thursday, CoinDesk reported that BlackRock planned to offer a Bitcoin ETF with crypto exchange Coinbase serving as custodian. This was confirmed later after a filing showed the company’s iShares fund management unit filed paperwork for the formation of a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF.

“An estimated 20% of Americans have now owned bitcoin at some point. BlackRock’s proposed ETF potentially offers the other 80% an option that is altogether more familiar and accessible,” said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, in an email to CoinDesk. “BlackRock’s increasing engagement shows Bitcoin continues to be an asset of interest for some of the world’s largest financial institutions.”

Bitcoin quickly regained the $25,500 level early Friday, erasing losses from the past two days when it fell to as low as $24,860. The move provided some respite to major tokens such as Polygon Network’s MATIC and Cardano’s ADA, which jumped nominally to ease some losses from a two-day slide.

Dogecoin (DOGE) led gains among major tokens with a 4% move in the past 24 hours, with litecoin (LTC) gaining 3.3%.

As such, the market strength of bitcoin impacted shorts – or bets against – the asset with BTC-tracked futures seeing over $16 million in short liquidations in the past 24 hours. This figure was lesser-than-usual due to large declines in the past week, causing some traders to risk lesser capital than usual.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has previously rejected other attempts by fund managers at listing a spot bitcoin ETF, including those from Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree.

However, the stature of BlackRock could make it difficult for the SEC to reject this application – which some say could fuel an outsized bitcoin rally if approved.