BTC Defends $30K After BlackRock Refiled its Spot Bitcoin ETF Application: This Week’s Crypto Recap

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are arguably the hottest topic in the cryptocurrency community for the past few weeks, a trend that was only solidified during the last several days.

Recall that the SEC deemed all recent filings as “inadequate” last Friday, which put a major shade on all applications on whether they will be added to the growing list of rejections made by the securities regulator.

However, all companies reacted swiftly and refiled with more “adequate” information, mostly regarding their strategies on how to tackle potential market manipulation. BlackRock was among those, as it named Coinbase as its surveillance partner.

Somewhat expectedly, these events affected BTC’s price movements. The asset slumped hard following the SEC’s warning last week from over $31,000 to $29,500 to chart a 10-day high. Nevertheless, the defiance of BlackRock and the other financial giants and their refilings sent the cryptocurrency north once again.

This resulted in BTC spiking to $31,500 mid-week, which was a new 13-month high. Yet, it failed there and fell hard to under $30,000 on Thursday. As of now, though, bitcoin has been able to reclaim that round-numbered milestone and trades just over it at the end of the week.

On a weekly scale, there are several notable gainers, including MKR (20%), FLOW (17%), FIL (16%), GRT (15%), and FXS (15%).

In terms of weekly price losses, APE leads the way with a 13% decline, followed by XLM (-11%), LEO (-10%), and FTM (-10%).

Market Data

Market Cap: $1,220B | 24H Vol: $48B | BTC Dominance: 48.2%

BTC: $30,300 (+1.4%) | ETH: $1,869 (+1.2%) | BNB: $235 (+0.5%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

13% of all Litecoin (LTC) in Circulation Unmoved for 5 Years: Report. Litecoin has also been in the news a lot, especially given the upcoming third halving, scheduled to take place in less than a month. Another report showed that over 10% of all LTC in circulation has not been moved for five years.

GBTC Discount Narrows to 27% for the First Time Since May 2022, Here’s Why. Grayscale’s flagship fund went through highly unfavorable periods last year when the discount rates dumped to almost 50%. However, there’s an evident resurgence following the recent ETF filings, and that discount has narrowed to 27% for the first time in over a year.

Bitfinex Returns Portion Of Assets Stolen From 2016 Hack. The popular crypto exchange was hacked seven years ago, but it announced earlier this week that the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recovered over $300,000, which will go to holders of Recovery Right Tokens (RRTs).

BlackRock’s BTC ETF Filing Could ‘Democratize Crypto,’ CEO Larry Fink Says. Speaking of the world’s largest asset manager and its spot BTC ETF filing, the company’s CEO also weighed in on the matter, praising the cryptocurrency over gold and highlighting his firm’s product application.

Cameron Winklevoss Issues 3-Day Ultimatum to DCG’s Barry Silbert, Threatens Lawsuit. The president of the crypto exchange Gemini issued an official 3-day ultimatum to Silbert regarding DCG’s failure to make Gemini Earn users whole. As that ultimatum has passed now, it would be interesting to see if Winklevoss will follow through on his warning.

Celsius and Former CEO Alex Mashinsky Violated US Law, Says CFTC Spokesman. An anonymous spokesperson from the CFTC claimed that Celsius Network’s former CEO – Alex Mashinsky – has indeed violated local laws, and there could be a lawsuit in the making against him and the company he founded years ago.