Bitcoin Losses Accelerate With ETF Launch, While Ether Gains 18%

(CTN News) – Despite the launch of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., which followed years of struggle for institutional acceptance of the cryptocurrency, bitcoin fell on Friday.

Coin Metrics shows price dropped nearly 6% to $44,022.22, dragging most of the crypto market into the red. The price briefly climbed to $49,058.48 on Thursday, its highest level since December 2021. For the week, it remained above the flat line.

As ETH hovered under the flat line, earlier gains were trimmed. As investors rotated this week, it has been up 18% to highs not seen since May 2022 after SEC approval of ETFs.

“ETH has already rallied more than bitcoin, likely on hopes that crypto’s second largest token will also be approved for ETFs,” Citi’s Alex Saunders said.

In May, the SEC will decide on spot ETH ETF applications. BlackRock, Invesco, Ark and VanEck are in line for approval, as well as Grayscale.

Bitcoin rose 157% in 2023, while Ether rose only 90%.

As the ETF narrative drove up more than 60% in just three months, many expected the long-awaited bitcoin ETF approvals to be a sell-on-the-news event. All market participants agree that ETFs will boost prices. However, it may take some time for newcomers to crypto to become familiar with the asset and gradually enter the market.

According to Saunders, Bitcoin could take on a lot more prominence in portfolios in the future, but any widespread adoption is still some way off.

Another bright spot in the crypto market Friday was litecoin, whose value proposition is similar to original vision of a medium for everyday payments.

As bitcoin fell, crypto equities fell as well. The shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy fell by 5% and 7%, respectively. There were big losses even among the miners from Thursday. It was a bad day for CleanSpark, Iris Energy, Marathon Digital, and Riot Platforms, which all fell more than 14%.

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