Bitwise, BlackRock, Grayscale fuel Bitcoin ETF approval hopes as meetings with SEC continue

●Bitcoin price fell over the weekend to flip $42,000 into a resistance level once again, confirming investors are acting cautious right now.

●Bitwise defeated BlackRock in taking the lead in the Bitcoin ETF marketing war after having met with the SEC in November.

●Grayscale also recently discussed the potential tax implications for spot Bitcoin ETFs, ascertaining that ETF taxation is not the same as mutual funds.

Bitcoin price is awaiting the trigger of the spot Bitcoin ETF approval hype, which is needed to break the cryptocurrency out of its current consolidation. Ahead of the expected date of January 10, 2024, applicants are doing their most to bring their investment products forward, and by the looks of it, Bitwise might have an edge here.

Bitwise begins spot Bitcoin ETF marketing war

While BlackRock was among the first applicants of a spot Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise has seemingly had an edge over the former for a while now. Bitwise was among the very first entities to hold a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the ETF back in November.

It is also now the first to launch a marketing campaign for its spot Bitcoin ETF investment product, beating out BlackRock and other applicants. Featuring known stockbroker Peter Schiff, the advertisement highlighted that Bitwise will soon be bringing a BTC ETF. While this does not suggest any certainty regarding the approval of the applications, it certainly is a step in the positive direction.

A similar step was taken by Grayscale recently when it took to X, formerly Twitter, to hash out certain misunderstandings regarding its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Addressing an inaccurate report, the asset manager clarified that GBTC falls under grantor trusts when it comes to taxation. 

Grayscale added, “The taxation of grantor trusts is not the same as the taxation of mutual funds, which may have capital gains or losses that impact shareholders remaining in the fund. That means that no such spot commodity ETF that is a grantor trust would be at a disadvantage relative to any other spot commodity ETF because of the carrying value of the ETF’s assets.”

Since GBTC is largely sought after by retail investors, Grayscale explained that since these investors are non-redeeming shareholders (non-FINRA registered entities), cash redemptions are nontaxable events for them.

Bitcoin price remains consolidated

Bitcoin price, trading at $41,287 at the time of writing, failed to sustain above the $42,000 mark, falling for the second time in just a week. This is expected to continue for a while as the cryptocurrency is still cooling down from the recent rally ahead of January 2024.

Since considerable bullishness is expected from the market, Bitcoin price will see some decline before the spot BTC ETF approval. A decline to $40,000 could take place over the next week, and a bounce back would bring the digital asset back to $42,000.

BTC/USD 8-hour chart, Source: TradingView.

However, losing the support line of $40,000 might prove rather unfavorable as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) are exhibiting a short-term bearish outlook, which could send BTC to $38,000 and invalidate the bullish thesis.