Bitcoin ETFs rattle Wall Street as BTC crosses $63K

The emergence of Bitcoin ETFs has rattled Wall Street, stirring both excitement and concern. While some view ETFs as a gateway to broader adoption and legitimacy for BTC, others raise concerns about potential market manipulation and regulatory challenges.

The introduction and approval of Bitcoin ETFs have intensified interest and apprehension among Wall Street investors and institutions. These ETFs provide a regulated and convenient way for traditional investors to gain exposure to BTC’s price movements without directly holding the crypto.

Bitcoin is here to stay – ETFs prove that to the core

New US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are shaking up the market for the original crypto, with demand for the token increasing and net inflows exceeding $7 billion in less than two months.

The most noticeable change is a more than 45% increase in the price of the largest digital asset this year, to almost $63,000, bringing the pandemic-era record high of nearly $69,000 within reach. The approaching decrease in Bitcoin supply growth, known as the halving, has further fueled the increase.

The ETFs are shifting the center of gravity for BTC trading to the United States, promoting leveraged bets that have driven the cost of bullish wagers via perpetual futures to levels not seen since 2021.

BTC has surged for six days in a row, increasing its value by 23% over that time. At 8:03 a.m. Thursday in New York, it was trading at $62,597, having nearly reached $64,000 on Wednesday.

The funding rate for Bitcoin perpetual futures, which are popular among cryptocurrency speculators because they have no predetermined expiry date, has reached its highest level since 2021. This suggests that traders are racing to gamble on gains and are willing to pay funds to short-term speculators in order to keep their positions open.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs record new ATH of $680M

On February 28, spot BTC ETFs attracted over $680 million in investments. The daily inflows are attributed to five of the ten players approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission: iShares Bitcoin Trust ($612.1 million), Fidelity Wise Origin BTC Fund ($245.2 million), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF ($9.9 million), ARK 21Shares BTC ETF ($23.8 million), and WisdomTree BTC ETF ($2.2 million).

However, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust reported $216.4 million in withdrawals, reducing overall inflows from $893.2 million to $676.8 million. Since February 12, the spot Bitcoin ETF market in the United States has received $7.4 billion in total inflows. In contrast, the market has lost more than $7.8 billion due to large outflows from Grayscale.

As of February 28, iShares continued to make the largest contribution to Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, at $7.15 billion. The cumulative inflow into spot BTC ETFs has amounted to about $7.4 billion.

At the time of writing, BTC is worth $62,960.44, up 0.0% from an hour ago and 3.0% from yesterday. BTC’s value today is 23.1% higher than what it was seven days ago.

The global crypto market cap is now $2.44 trillion, up 4.55% in the last 24 hours and 120.51% from a year ago. As of today, BTC as a market cap of $1.25 trillion, reflecting a 50.95% dominance. Meanwhile, stablecoins’ market cap is $143 billion, accounting for 5.84% of the overall crypto market cap.