Breaking: BTC crosses $34k as Blackrock’s Bitcoin spot ETF sees development

• Blackrock’s Bitcoin spot ETF gets a birth certificate while the company might seed with cash
• Bitcoin [BTC] sees a momentous surge in the market, with the king coin topping the $35,000 level today

The crypto market’s call for a spot Bitcoin ETF seems to only intensify with each passing day. Today’s (23 October) spotlight is taken over by two prominent players in the Bitcoin spot ETF market, Blackrock and Grayscale.

One has secured a win against the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), while the other seems to be preparing for the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in full scale. With these latest developments, BTC witnessed a momentous rise in the market.

The coin gained over $3,000 in just the last 24 hours, with its latest move seeing it breach the $34,000 level. According to CoinMarketCap, at press time, BTC was trading at $33,120.55 with a market cap of over $650 billion.

The king coin witnessed a gain of over 5% in the past hour, while its past 24-hour gain stood at over 11%. Meanwhile, the seven-day chart showed a rise of over 16.60%.

How much are 1,10,100 BTCs worth today?

Around 4:00 (UTC+5:30), the coin skyrocketed past the $34,000 level, hitting a high of 35,000 on Coinbase, before retracting and now settling around the $33,300 level.

Source: TradingView

Blackrock’s Bitcoin spot ETF sees developments

The investment management giant seems to be preparing for the launch of its spot Bitcoin ETF. This was because it officially gained a birth certificate. According to Scott Johnsson – finance lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP – the latest iShares amendments have two important changes. The first is that it has “obtained a CUSIP in prep for a launch,” while the second aspect is that the firm “may be looking to seed with cash this month.”

As explained by crypto netizen – CryptoMartyX, CUSIP stands for Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures, a “unique identifier assigned to securities,” like a birth certificate. This basically indicates that the company is preparing for the issuance and trade of a new security, and in the case of Blackrock, the new security could be a Bitcoin spot ETF.

As for the second aspect of seeding with cash, CryptoMartyX said,

“When a new ETF is created, it needs initial assets to operate before other investors start buying shares. The mention that they may be looking to seed with cash this month implies that BlackRock might be putting their own capital into the ETF to get it started. This action can also demonstrate confidence in the product.”

Subsequently, the iShares Bitcoin Trust has also been listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Eric Balchunas – senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg – said,

The iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which clears NASDAQ trades). And the ticker will be $IBTC. Again all part of the process of bringing ETF to market.. h/t @martypartymusic pic.twitter.com/8PQP3h2yW0

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 23, 2023

Grayscale closes its SEC chapter in court

Subsequently, the lawsuit launched against the SEC by Grayscale – a notable digital asset management company – has come to an end today (23 October). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has finalized its verdict, forcing SEC to scrap its rejection decision on the conversion of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust to a Bitcoin spot ETF.

The initial decision was made two months ago by the courts. However, the option to appeal was available to the SEC, with October 2023 being the deadline. However, given that the commission yielded to the court’s decision, the verdict has now been finalized. Notably, the commission still has the right to reject the application after another review. But Grayscale has already announced that it would take the matters to court once again.