Over the weekend, bitcoin went above the $62,000 mark. This hasn’t happened since April 2021. It’s now past the 64k mark, a 4.7% increase within 24 hours.
The first US bitcoin ETF started trading Tuesday. It is a historical moment for the thriving crypto market. Exchange-traded funds are a significant way to win investors. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been overseeing bitcoin futures for four years.
ETFs are securities that can you can trade on a stock exchange since they track an asset. They’re regulated by the SEC. And this offers a level of protection to investors, according to Gary Gensler, the current SEC chair.
Concerns raised over this exchange-traded fund
Due to bitcoin’s lack of regulation, some consumer groups and lawmakers term this exchange trade step dangerous and misleading. Bitcoin’s price increased by over 440 percent last year. It is subject to intense volatility.
These groups warn that it becomes dangerous when individual investors are given a higher ability to tap into the cryptocurrency market. A financial policy lawmaker for consumer group Public Citizen, Bart Naylor, argued that cryptocurrencies have led to massive losses of money from the economy.
The price of bitcoin has been on the rise in the past few days due to the anticipation created by this latest SEC approval of bitcoin futures ETF. Many traders view this as a brilliant time to invest in the industry. On the other hand, lawmakers and other consumer groups warn over inadequate investor protection for cryptocurrencies.
SEC regulation and crackdown
As a way of protecting crypto investors, the US Securities and Exchange Commission plans to carry out a crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges and other digital currency services. The SEC’s major role is to protect investors and regulate the security exchange market.
Bitcoin is the leading cryptocurrency by market value. According to CoinGecko, it’s currently trading at $64,170.76 with a global crypto market cap at $1.2 trillion. Its price has gone up by over 40% in the last 30 days.
By late Tuesday morning, the ETF had traded almost $500 million, which doesn’t come as a surprise to many cryptocurrency experts. It’s something that the media widely popularized, so there was already a lot of hype around it.
Crypto enthusiasts expect this trend to grow, and that bitcoin will soon create a new all-time high. Europe and Canada also launched crypto ETFs this year because of the skyrocketing interest in virtual assets.
