EXCLUSIVE: Crypto Industry Insider Predicts Bitcoin Spot ETF In Early 2024 — Why It's 'Not Entirely Priced In'

At the Benzinga Future Of Digital Assets event in New York on Tuesday, two prominent figures took the stage to discuss the recovery of the cryptocurrency sector following the FTX crisis.

Ash Bennington of Real Vision and Brett Harrison, the former president of FTX US, shared their insights on reconstructing the crypto landscape. They also discussed Harrison's prediction of a spot Bitcoin BTC/USD exchange-traded fund being sanctioned in 2024.

Harrison is of the opinion that the cryptocurrency narrative has not yet realized its full potential, and the promises linked to it have not yet come to fruition.

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"If you look at the market cap, and it is one and a half trillion that is the size of the Korean stock market, and it is an industry of what 14 years – it has already in many ways achieved institutional adoption. If all we get out of this is Bitcoin and USDT then it is worth it," Harrison said.

Bennington stated that people are excited about a spot Bitcoin ETF listing and asked whether the anticipated ETF is priced in or not. Harrison responded, saying, "It is not entirely priced in."

He attributed this partially to ongoing uncertainties about the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)'s decision on approving a spot bitcoin ETF.

Harrison anticipates, "probably we're going to see one early next year." He also questioned the future growth of the derivatives market beyond a Bitcoin ETF, pondering the possibility of an ether ETF and whether cryptocurrency volumes will rise due to this ETF.

Harrison mentioned, "There is some narrative that once there's a, for example, Bitcoin ETF that's going to maybe stifle volumes in Bitcoin because if you want exposure to the asset, you can go into your brokerage account and Buy [the] ETF instead."

He added that the approval of an ETF will significantly boost spot cryptocurrency volumes. Explaining further, Harrison said, "Authorized participants who are going to be creating and redeeming this ETF are going to need to be trading this spot to be able to uphold their markets and be able to create the arbitrage between the spot [and] the ETF to keep it in line."

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Photo: Pratya Jankong