Crypto Whale Loses $49K In 10 Minutes After Bitcoin ETF Rumor Pumps Price To $30K

The price of Bitcoin BTC/USD on Monday experienced a rapid surge, reaching as high as $30,000 on certain cryptocurrency exchanges.

What Happened: The reason behind this sudden increase in value was the circulation of erroneous reports online, claiming that the  Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF.

However, these reports turned out to be completely false.

A spokesperson from BlackRock Inc BLK clarified the situation, stating, “The iShares Bitcoin ETP application is still under review by the SEC,” in a statement to Benzinga.

The spread of fake news regarding the SEC’s approval of the iShares Bitcoin Spot ETF has had repercussions for users in the crypto market. 

Lookonchain, an on-chain data analytics firm, reported that a whale or a large-scale investor, spent 613,201 USD Coin USDC/USD to purchase 20.5 Wrapped Bitcoin. 

However, shortly after realizing that the news was fake, the whale quickly sold the WBTC for 563,970 USDC. As a result, the investor incurred a loss of $49,231 within a mere 10 minutes.

Cointelegraph's fake news that the SEC approved iShares Bitcoin Spot #ETF has caused many users to #FOMO and lose money.

A whale spent 613,201 $USDC to buy 20.5 $WBTC and quickly sold for 563,970 $USDC after it was confirmed fake news.

The whale lost $49K in just 10 minutes! pic.twitter.com/8YSPPjCvbr

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 16, 2023

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Why It Matters: The potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF has been eagerly anticipated within the cryptocurrency industry. 

An exchange-traded fund, commonly known as an ETF, is essentially a collection of investments that can be traded on the stock market. If approved, a Bitcoin ETF would enable retail investors and others to invest in Bitcoin through the stock exchange without directly owning the digital asset.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $28,369.41, up 4.39% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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