- Despite Grayscale’s latest legal victory, new challenges emerged.
- Whales showed strong interest in Bitcoin, while miner revenue fell.
Grayscale’s recent triumph over the SEC brought optimism to the crypto market, with a surge in interest from whales. However, further developments suggested that Grayscale’s legal challenges were far from over.
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The fight goes on
On 29 August, the DC Circuit’s Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the SEC’s denial of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s (GBTC) conversion to a spot Bitcoin ETF. This win was celebrated by GBTC shareholders and the entire crypto community.
Following the court’s decision, Grayscale’s legal team sent a letter to the SEC. This letter stressed that there were no valid reasons to distinguish spot Bitcoin ETFs from Bitcoin futures ETFs, as evidenced by the SEC’s past rulings.
The letter also highlighted that the Trust’s Rule 19b-4 filing had been pending for an unreasonably long time, in violation of the law. Grayscale’s legal team urged the SEC to promptly approve NYSE Arca’s Rule 19b-4 filing, ensuring a level playing field for GBTC’s nearly one million investors.
GBTC is fully prepared to function as an ETF once it receives regulatory approval. But despite this legal filing, Grayscale’s victory may not guarantee an immediate transformation of the Bitcoin [BTC] investment landscape.
Institutional interest on the rise
Moreover, institutional interest in Bitcoin wasn’t just being showcased through ETF applications.
Over the last few months, Bitcoin attracted significant attention from whales, as evidenced by Glassnode’s data, which indicated that the number of addresses holding 10 or more coins reached an all-time high of 157,460 at press time.
This milestone surpassed the previous record of 157,458 on 20 September 2019.
The growing interest of whales may have far-reaching consequences for Bitcoin going forward. Notably, high accumulation of the king coin could spike prices. This could also result in centralization of the cryptocurrency.
Source: Glassnode
In contrast to the positive signs of increased whale interest, Bitcoin miners experienced a decrease in their revenues. This decline in miner income was concerning, as miners may have to sell their holdings to maintain profitability.
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Such selling pressure can contribute to downward price movements for the king coin.
Source: Blockchain
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $25,747.84, with a marginal decline of 0.07% in the past 24 hours.
