Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchuna questioned the veracity of a Matrixport report that claimed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might reject several pending applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
“At this point, saying SEC rejecting it isn’t just going against James Seyffart and I like it was in the early days, now you basically saying multiple mainstream news reporters with multiple sources on inside of this also have it wrong too. Not saying it’s impossible (again we are still ‘only’ at 90%) but it overturns a LOT of good intel,” Balchunas said.
Balchunas furthered that no concrete information supported the speculated denials and questioned the basis of the prediction. The analyst wondered if the claim was based on information from insider sources within the applicants, the SEC, or if they were purely the personal opinion of Markus Thielen, the head of research at Matrixport.
Earlier today, digital asset management Matrixport said it anticipates a likely rejection of pending ETF applications from the financial regulator for several reasons, including the SEC’s chair Gary Gensler’s anti-crypto posture.
The report has since generated steep criticisms from the crypto community, who are questioning the firm’s basis for the report.
Long traders lose over $500M
Meanwhile, news of a possible SEC rejection for the ETF applications caused a sharp decline in BTC’s price, as traders betting on further price increases lost over $500 million within four hours, according to CoinGlass data.
During the period, BTC’s price suddenly crashed to as low as $41,500 after soaring above $45,000. The flagship asset price has slightly recovered to $43,289 as of press time.
CryptoSlate Insight noted that the steep losses suggested a bullish sentiment among traders, who unexpectedly found themselves bearing the brunt of BTC’s sudden price downturn.
Traders speculating on Bitcoin price contributed to around $160 million of these losses, followed by speculators on Ethereum price who lost nearly $110 million.
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