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This past week, all eyes have been on the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs and their journey towards approval. Rumors started swirling last week that approvals were imminent, and our sources have confirmed that to be true.
However, the road to approval was filled with unexpected obstacles. On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s official Twitter account was hacked, as confirmed by a spokesperson to TechCrunch. The hacker posted an “unauthorized” tweet stating that the agency had approved “bitcoin ETFs.” The tweet remained up for about 30 minutes, causing confusion among news outlets and online personalities. It was eventually taken down by the SEC, but the damage was already done.
Thankfully, everything ended well. Just one day later, on Wednesday, the first applications for U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs were officially approved by the SEC, with 11 issuers receiving the green light. We caught up with executives from Grayscale and Valkyrie to hear their thoughts on this major development.
If you’re wondering about the initial trading volume for these new ETFs, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, revealed it brought in around $2 billion Thursday morning.
Steven McClurg, co-founder of Valkyrie, previously told TechCrunch that he expected $2 billion to $3 billion in trading volume during the first week, but the initial inflow suggests demand may exceed these estimates. This could be a sign of big things to come for the market.
In addition to the regularly scheduled newsletter bits, we’ve been toying with some new recurring segments and features. Plus, in the next few weeks, we’ll be transitioning from “Chain Reaction” to “TechCrunch Crypto.” Keep an eye out for more updates!
That’s enough housekeeping and spot bitcoin ETF news for now. Let’s move on, shall we?
This week in web3
On our latest podcast episode, we sit down with Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments. Grayscale is a digital asset investment firm catering to institutional and individual investors, perhaps most notable for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and newly-approved spot bitcoin ETF. In our conversation, we delve into the implications of a spot bitcoin ETF approval for GBTC and market demand. We also discuss competition among issuers, fee structures, the importance of regulated bitcoin exposure, and what this development could mean for the crypto space as a whole.
Be sure to subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to catch our latest episodes, and leave us a review if you enjoy what you hear!
Follow the money
Here are some notable funding rounds from the world of web3:
-Web3 music startup Tune.FM raised $20 million in strategic funding
-Liquidity solution startup Eesee raised $2.85 million in seed funding
-DeFi developer NoahArk Tech Group received $2.4 million from EOS Network Ventures
-OORT raised $10 million to focus on its decentralized cloud for privacy and cost savings
-Altitude raised $6.1 million in seed funding to enhance DeFi loans
Our list was compiled with information from Messari and our own reporting at TechCrunch.
What else we’re writing
If you’re looking for some non-web3 content, check out these articles that caught our attention this week:
- Twitter may soon allow users to tip with Bitcoin or Ethereum
- Google introduces new security feature using phone as hardware key
- Spotify cracks down on pirated podcast streams
For breaking crypto news, memes, and more, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek!
