17 October 2023
Investment management firm Blackrock has reacted to rumors about the approval of its Bitcoin Spot ETF application by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which caused quite a stir among the cryptocurrency community.
Blackrock CEO Responds To Claims On Bitcoin Spot ETF
On Monday, crypto news outlet CoinTelegraph posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved a long-anticipated application of Bitcoin Spot ETF, but later retracted the report. However, the post sparked excitement within the crypto community causing the Bitcoin price to rise rapidly.
The cryptocurrency’s price surged to almost $30,000 earlier in the day after the alleged post was made by Cointelegraph yesterday. However, the cryptocurrency’s price fell almost immediately after the report was proven to be false by Blackrock’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink and other prominent voices in the crypto community.
Eleanor Terrett was the first to report that this news was false after speaking with BlackRock and that the company’s Bitcoin Spot ETF is still under review by the US regulator.
In an interview with Fox Business, Fink, who said he only learned about the ‘news’ hours later due to him being extremely busy all day, took a rather positive stance on the event. According to the CEO, noting that Monday’s event solely proved the worldwide need and desire for a Bitcoin spot ETF.
“I think the rally today is about a flight to quality, with all the issues around the Israeli war now, global terrorism,” Fink said. “I think there are more people running into a flight to quality, whether that is in Treasuries, gold, or crypto, depending on how you think of it. And I believe crypto will play that type of role, as a flight to quality.”
The SEC also confirmed that the alleged news report was false and that the application is still pending. “Careful what you read on the internet. The best source of information about the SEC is the SEC.” the post read.
So far, CoinTelegrah has apologized with a post on X for the false report it posted “which led to the dissemination of inaccurate information.” The crypto media outlet later posted the result of its internal investigation which showed a team member had posted the ‘news’ without getting approval from its editorial team.
Crypto tracker, Coinglass revealed that short trading positions held by investors betting on lower prices were liquidated to the tune of over $104 million within 24 hours due to the false news.