Bitcoin Rallies Past $45,000 Level As Spot BTC ETF Deadline Nears

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied above $45,000, buoyed by investors’ anticipation of a potential approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The price movement comes amid reports that the SEC may notify the 14 spot Bitcoin ETF applicants of its decision ahead of the January 10 deadline, increasing investors’ anticipation for the potential approval of the first ever spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States.

On Tuesday morning in Asia, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization climbed 6.9% over the past 24 hours to trade at $45,371 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap data. This marked the first time Bitcoin surpassed the $45,000 level since April 2022.

According to The Block, Analysts believe that the positive sentiment surrounding the potential ETF approvals is driving the current rally. Justin d’Anethan from crypto market maker Keyrock attributed the surge to news of Blackrock, Fidelity, and other spot Bitcoin ETF applicants confirming the names of brokers that would support their BTC operations.

Markus Thielen from Matrixport predicts that Bitcoin may climb above $50,000 by the end of the week. He pointed to the lack of minting activities at Tether, indicating a lack of fiat inflows into crypto, but noted that the price rally suggests a lack of sellers in the market. Furthermore, Thielen stated that the high BTC funding rates suggest that the futures market is driving the spot market higher.

The potential approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States is seen as a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry, with Glassnode estimating over $70 billion in institutional capital inflows to these new Bitcoin investment products, if approved.

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