Analyst Warns Of Potential 'Rug Pull' If Spot Bitcoin ETF Fails To Gain Approval In January 2022

Analyst Nate Geraci on Sunday raised concerns about the possibility of the spot Bitcoin BTC/USD exchange-traded funds (ETF) application failing to receive approval.

What Happened: Geraci on X said, “If spot bitcoin ETF not approved in January, might be one of bigger rug pulls in crypto history…Not my base case, but can't entirely rule out given history here which is why I said close to 100%. That said, sticking w/ my original pre-Grayscale court victory prediction.” 

Geraci was referring to the concerns with regulatory compliance that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has historically taken as its approach towards spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Bitcoin crossed the $44,000 mark for the first time since 2021. There is a sense of optimism among traders that the SEC will finally approve the ETF application submitted by Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment and 21 Shares, BlackRock and Fidelity among others.

An ETF approval from the SEC would significantly boost the crypto industry that is still recovering from the FTX exchange collapse in 2022. 

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Why It Matters: Last week, the current chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, hinted at a potential shift in the SEC’s stance towards the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF applications in an interview with CNBC. 

Gensler revealed that the SEC is actively reconsidering its approach to spot Bitcoin ETF applications based on the decision made by courts in the District of Columbia. He said, “And as you might know, we had in the past denied a number of these applications, but the courts here in the District of Columbia weighed in on that. And so we're taking a new look at this based upon those court rulings.”

In the past 24 hours, 86,064 traders’ were liquidated, with the total liquidations amounting to $166.08 million. The most significant single liquidation order occurred on Bitmex, with an XBT-USD worth $10 million.

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