- Bitcoin’s price surged following Grayscale’s legal victory against the SEC.
- The rally brought a welcome relief to an extended period of bearish sentiment.
- The SEC will re-assess its rejection of Grayscale’s application to convert its Bitcoin Trust to an ETF.
The market’s prolonged downturn has battered investors for over a year, with Bitcoin’s recent plunge to $25.3k cementing fears that crypto winter is here to stay. Yet, like a ray of light in an otherwise bleak situation, the leading cryptocurrency surged to $28.2k on August 29 as Grayscale’s legal win against the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) fueled excitement among crypto enthusiasts.
Bitcoin Posts a 12-day High
Bitcoin’s price action underwent a surprising turn of events on Tuesday, recording an 8.6% upswing over the last 24 hours to lift market sentiment from “fear” to “neutral,” per the Crypto Fear & Greed Index. The move saw the leading digital asset post a 12-day high, topping out at $28.2k by 16:00 GMT, according to TradingView.
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Bitcoin’s market capitalization rose alongside its price, broaching $544.75 billion and markedly reversing its valuation erosion following the Evergrande-induced selloff, which saw $62.4 billion wiped from the total crypto market cap on August 17.
Bitcoin Market Cap on CoinMarketCap
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Per these soaring metrics, Bitcoin’s trading volume hit 39,000 BTC on Tuesday 29th, to record the asset’s second-highest daily volume for August, second only to the 49,300 BTC volume recorded on Thursday 17th, per Bitcoinity data.
Market Manipulation Afoot?
Digging into Bitcoin’s positive performance, X personality “Ali Charts” floated a sinister theory to his audience, highlighting a hint of insider info playing into the rally. Ali revealed that 30,000 Bitcoin had been transferred to exchanges shortly before the news of Grayscale prevailing over the SEC.
Exchange inflows denote the intention to liquidate holdings or leverage the coins for derivatives trading. An abnormally large exchange inflow before the Grayscale ruling was public knowledge, which led Ali to suggest that big players had advance notice and acted accordingly to profit.
US Court of Appeals Sides with Grayscale
The SEC rejected Grayscale’s application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into an ETF in June 2022, sparking outrage among market participants who accused the SEC of treating the asset class unfairly. The denial led to the asset manager filing legal action against the agency, and the case was finally settled on August 29 when the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the SEC to re-review its rejection of the application.
While this is cause for Bitcoiners to celebrate, founder of 21st Paradigm Dylan LeClair pointed out that the ruling doesn’t necessarily mean a Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF will automatically be approved. The specific outcome was simply that the court agreed with Grayscale’s complaint that the basis for the rejection was “arbitrary and capricious.”
On the Flipside
- Bitcoin is still priced below key resistance levels, which suggests that it is premature to call the recent uptick a bear market reversal.
- Speculation is mounting that the court’s ruling will catalyze the approval of the recent glut of spot Bitcoin ETF applications.
Why This Matters
The US Court of Appeals ruling demonstrated that the SEC is not infallible and, more significantly, does not always follow the letter of the law pursued by other government institutions.
