Bitcoin Price Is Up Despite SEC Delay, Is The Spot ETF Decision Priced In Already?

On Wednesday, the Bitcoin price rallied toward $38,000 amid expectations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approving the first Spot BTC ETF. The regulator would end up exercising its right to delay its decision further, something that has usually been bearish for the price. However, the Bitcoin price continued to show strength, suggesting that a Spot Bitcoin ETF approval might be priced into the market already.

The SEC announced on Wednesday that it had decided to further delay its decision on Spot Bitcoin ETF filings; in particular, the Hashdex Spot Bitcoin ETF filing which was due to a decision or a delay on November 15. The Commission had decided that it needed more time to contemplate and thoroughly investigate the filing before giving a final answer. This means that a decision for the Hashdex ETF filing is not expected until 2024.

Not only did the SEC decide to delay its decision on the Hashdex Spot ETF filing, but it also chose to do so on the Grayscale Ethereum Futures filing. This comes even after Grayscale had emerged victorious over the regulator in court, which demanded that the SEC review Grayscale’s Spot Bitcoin ETF filing.

Just like the Hashdex ETF, the SEC choosing to defer its decision on the Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF pushes its deadline date into 2024, dashing hopes of the ETFs coming this year. However, both Bitcoin and Ethereum seemed to have shaken off this news with little to no reaction.

The approvals for a Spot Bitcoin ETF and an Ethereum Futures ETF have been anticipated by the crypto community for months now. And like any asset, investors may be becoming indifferent to whether the news affects their investment decisions or not.

Such a development would mean that the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals are being priced in already, and would not have much effect on the price when they are eventually approved. However, this does not seem to be entirely the case.

One example is when the price of XRP surged upon the rumors of BlackRock filing an XRP ETF, and then subsequently crashing once it was debunked. Then again, on Wednesday, as expectations around the SEC’s decision mounted, the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum rallied to $38,000 and $2,080, respectively, suggesting that investors are still expecting approval to significantly move the market.

What seems to be happening is that news of delays from regulators is no longer having the bearish effects that they used to have. In this case, investors are simply not reacting to the news of a delay as they usually would seemingly because it is not widely understood that it is not the same thing as a rejection.

The Bitcoin price has since retraced since hitting $38,000 but it maintains a healthy $37,000 at the time of this writing. Ethereum has also followed suit, dropping to $2,046 from its Wednesday peak of $2,080.