The price of Bitcoin (^BTCUSD) on Monday surged +10% to a 2-1/4 month high on an erroneous report that BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, had won approval from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded-fund (ETF) that allows investors to invest directly in the token. Bitcoin prices soon gave up more than half of Monday’s advance after BlackRock said its Bitcoin ETF application remains under review.
BlackRock is among about a dozen companies seeking to offer the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs amid speculation the SEC may soon end its opposition to the products. Many rumors and false headlines have recently jolted Bitcoin prices. Bloomberg Intelligence expects the SEC to approve several Bitcoin ETFs before a January deadline and said Monday’s spike in Bitcoin prices “was a dry run for what’s going to happen if these things actually do get approved.”
