In a whirlwind week for the cryptocurrency world, Bitcoin made history with the approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs by the US SEC. The approval process, which began back in 2013 with the Winklevoss twins, saw trading volumes soar to over $4 billion on the first day of trading across major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
However, the excitement was short-lived as a fake tweet, the result of a hack of the SEC’s X account, caused chaos in the markets. The tweet falsely claimed that all Bitcoin ETFs had been approved, leading to $90 million in Bitcoin liquidations before the fraud was exposed.
Bitcoin’s price briefly soared to over $49,000 before plummeting below $42,000 the next day, as the euphoria over the ETF approvals gave way to a ‘sell the news’ rout. SEC Chair Gary Gensler made it clear that the approvals did not signal the commission’s support for Bitcoin, which he still views as speculative and volatile.
In other news, stablecoin USDC issuer Circle has filed for an IPO, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed improvements to the Ethereum network, and social media platform X discontinued its NFT profile picture service.
But perhaps the most intriguing story of the week is the Peregrine 1 space mission, which aimed to place a Bitcoin genesis block plaque and special Bitcoin token on the surface of the moon. However, a problem with the rocket’s propulsion system has cast doubt on whether Bitcoin will ever reach the moon safely.
Stay tuned for more updates on the wild world of cryptocurrency next week.
