SEC Delays Fidelity's Ethereum Spot ETF Application

Almost two weeks once bitcoin spot ETFs are approved, we are starting to see emerging favorites. As predicted by most of the cryptocurrency community, IBIT (iShares Bitcoin Trust by Blackrock) and FBTC by Fidelity are gaining large market share, currently accounting for 19% respectively. and 20 percent total share in ETF market.

Grayscale's GBTC still holds the most bitcoin of any spot ETF with a 53% market share. However, all of it was acquired when it was still an investment fund, before its conversion to an ETF. Since converting to an ETF, GBTC has actually seen a net outflow of 66 BTC (approximately $500 billion at current market prices). This was most likely due to high fees, driving investors towards alternatives with lower fees.

Since the ETFs launched on January 11, the price of bitcoin has fallen 16%, with some long-term holders making profits. Bitcoin is currently trading at $38 on the platform eToro.

Inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs continue and expectations for the upcoming halving are rising. It is worth watching how the bitcoin price can find support and whether it can go up.

Flare (FLR) was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies last week, gaining 28% after Google Cloud announced it was joining the Flare network as an infrastructure provider.

As the infrastructure provider for the Flare network, Google Cloud will act as both a validator (verifying new blocks and supporting the proof-of-stake chain) and contributor to the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO - a smart contract running on the Flare network that provides continuous estimates for different types of data). In this way, it will provide decentralized data to the Flare network, which can then be used by applications.

Currently, the FLR rate on the eToro platform is $0,02.

Important macro data

The main economic data releases this week are information on the progress of GDP in the US and weekly data on the number of unemployed workers, which will be published on Thursday at 14:30 CET. There will also be the latest PCE (personal consumption expenditure) reading on Friday at 14:30 CET. PCE indicator is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation.

Depending on the outcome of this data being released, it could impact the market's perception of when and how aggressively FED may start lowering interest rates. This, in turn, could impact investor appetite for riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies.

SEC Delays Fidelity's Ethereum Spot ETF Application

SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) last Thursday announced the delay of its decision on Fidelity's proposed Ethereum spot ETFs. While this is a step back, it is an expected one, and the cryptocurrency community will really be looking forward to May 23, when the SEC will have to issue its final decision - whether to approve or reject VanEck's competing spot ethereum ETF application.

Similar to the bitcoin spot ETF application, if the VanEck ethereum ETF is approved in May, it is likely that all current ethereum spot ETF applications will also be approved at the same time.

Proshares files for leveraged bitcoin ETFs

Staying on the topic of cryptocurrency ETFs, last Tuesday ProShares filed prospectus materials with the SEC for five leveraged and inverse bitcoin ETFs. The names of the ETFs are ProShares Plus Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Ultra Bitcoin ETF, Proshares Short Bitcoin ETF, ProShares ShortPlus Bitcoin ETF and ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF. Proshares already offers BITO, a bitcoin futures ETF, and a number of other weighted and inverse ETFs, most notably TQQ and SQQQ, which provide weighted and inverse exposure to the daily performance of the Nasdaq 100 Index.