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The BlackRock BTC ETF Giveth and it Taketh Away

Plus a bullish prediction from Galaxy

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
October 25, 2023

The Breakdown First Five - Tuesday October 24, 2023

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. Galaxy: $14.4B Inflows

A hyperbullish research note from Galaxy Digital said the firm expects $14.4B in inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs over the first year. They expect these inflows will drive a 74% price jump for Bitcoin. They noted that existing Bitcoin investment vehicles are unsuitable for institutional investors and advisors due to high fees and poor tracking. Galaxy expects that spot Bitcoin ETFs will attract new money above and beyond the $21B already invested in existing products. 

4. Euroclear Joins the RWA Trend

Major European clearance firm Euroclear has debuted their RWA tokenization platform with a $100M bond issuance from the World Bank. The issuance used Citi as its issuing agent and TD Securities as the dealer. The tokenized bonds will trade on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The World Bank’s managing director said “A transition to digitisation is underway in the capital markets.”

3. Emmer In and Out as Speaker

Pro-Crypto Lawmaker Tom Emmer experienced a brief moment as the nominee for House Speaker. Emmer won a caucus vote yesterday afternoon but pulled his candidacy citing opposition pressure within the GOP, more specifically a Trump intervention. Republicans seem no closer to electing a speaker and getting Congress back to work. A government shutdown is expected on November 17 if Washington remains dysfunctional. 

2. Coinbase Pushes to Dismiss

Coinbase have filed their final response in their motion to dismiss the SEC lawsuit. The exchange argued that the SEC has attempted to redefine the term investment contract. They said the SEC is attempting to claim authority over all investment activity and “define its own regulatory ambit, constrained only by its own ambition.” A decision on the motion isn’t expected until early 2024. 

1. Trading on Tickers

The DTCC pulled the listing of the Blackrock ETF from its website on Tuesday morning, shocking markets and leading to a 3% Bitcoin selloff. Traders repeatedly refreshed the website all day, causing it to crash. In the evening the listing was restored along with the already notorious ticker symbol, IBTC. A DTCC spokesperson noted that the ticker had actually been added in August, but no one had noticed until this week.   

Thanks for reading -NLW