According to Cointelegraph: Gold advocate and renowned Bitcoin critic, Peter Schiff, has cautioned that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF could lead to a significant dip in Bitcoin's price. Schiff asserts that the hung anticipation of the ETF has bolstered Bitcoin's price and speculative demand over the years. Hence, if the institutional demand underwhelms post-approval, the BTC price might see a considerable drop.
This warning came amidst a blend of anticipation and skepticism surrounding the U.S's potential approval of its first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Schiff's tweet on platform X (formerly Twitter), saw responses from Bitcoin proponents highlighting that a Bitcoin ETF, similar to a gold ETF, wouldn't hamper the real asset's demand.
However, data-driven consultancy firm Matrixpoint sees approval delays, predicting that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will likely dismiss all spot BTC ETF applications ahead of the Jan. 10 final deadline. This prediction diverges from other ETF analysts - some of whom predict a 90% chance of approval pre-deadline. Yet, Matrixpoint emphasizes that all present applications lack a crucial requirement needed for SEC approval. They predict a Q2 2024 approval for the first spot Bitcoin ETF.
Bloomberg's ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, now believes that there is a slight chance that the SEC could "perform the rug pull of the decade" - rejecting the ETF applications.
The status quo in the SEC's leadership - dominated by Democrats and less likely to approve a Bitcoin ETF as per Matrixpoint - adds to the growing skepticism. Moreover, the market's optimism seems to be shifting into skepticism as the deadline approaches, as is evident from the weakness in crypto-mining stocks and crypto-related U.S. stock sell-off.
