Bitcoin (BTC) fell out of favour for the third consecutive day on Thursday, recording a 1.6% drop against the US dollar. This downturn follows similar decreases in the last two trading sessions, eroding gains from bitcoin’s significant rally on Monday.
At the time of writing, bitcoin’s price stood at $68,001.75, marking a 3% increase on a weekly basis, a change of -2.91% over the past 24 hours as of 4:11 p.m.
Meanwhile, Ethereum is capturing the spotlight in the cryptocurrency markets as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gears up to announce its decision on Ethereum-backed exchange-traded funds.
The SEC is scheduled to approve or reject VanEck’s application today, with Bloomberg’s ETF analyst Eric Balcunas anticipating a decision by 4 pm EDT.
As the decision nears, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has urged the SEC to “employ the same standards used in the approval of spot bitcoin ETPs in its review of the pending Ethereum ETP applications.”
The approval of Bitcoin ETFs in January led to a record high in Bitcoin’s spot price; markets are now anticipating a similar boost for Ethereum’s spot prices.
Markets have begun to factor in approval, with the ETH/USD pair climbing 28% week on week, reaching over $3,800 at the time of this report.
Should VanEck’s application be denied or delayed, an immediate adjustment in prices is expected.
With markets on edge, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2.55 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for 52.8% of this total.
