Elizabeth Warren slams SEC as Bitcoin ETFs record more than 4 billion USD in first-day trades
2 min readThe newly approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen remarkable trading volume, exceeding $4 billion on their first day on the market.
According to James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, BTC spot ETF trading volume topped 4.6 billion USD on the first day before the close. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust contributed more than half of the total volume at over 2.3 billion USD.
Here's the #Bitcoin ETF Cointucky Derby data via trading volume on day 1 (more volume will continue for a little while).
Total Volume was over $4.6 Billion with $GBTC about half of it. BlackRock & Fidelity went 1 & 2 absent GBTC. pic.twitter.com/t70MzyQfZW
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 11, 2024
“It is easy to argue that much of this volume is due to sales of GBTC and purchases of other ETFs,” said Seyffart. Grayscale’s BTC Spot ETF has been converted from its previous product.
Excluding Grayscale, BlackRock’s iShares BTC Trust and Fidelity’s Fidelity Wise Origin BTC Fund took first and second place with trading volumes of $1 billion and $700 million, respectively.
Hashdex’s Bitcoin ETF does not yet hold spot Bitcoin
Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Hashdex had the lowest first day trading volumes, all of which were below $10 million.
Hashdex revealed in a blog that the company currently does not own any spot BTC and its Spot Bitcoin ETF (DEFI) is a pure futures product. According to the post, the fund “will change its name and investment strategy to allow spot BTC in its portfolio.”
Elizabeth Warren criticizes SEC approval
Meanwhile, US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has expressed concerns about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s decision to approve Bitcoin spot ETFs.
In a statement, Warren criticized the SEC for allowing these financial products without ensuring they comply with basic anti-money laundering regulations.
The @SECgov is wrong on the law and wrong on the policy with respect to the Bitcoin ETF decision.
If the SEC is going to let crypto burrow even deeper into our financial system, then it's more urgent than ever that crypto follow basic anti-money laundering rules.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 11, 2024
“The SEC is legally and politically wrong with its BTC ETF decision,” Warren said. “If the SEC allows cryptocurrencies to burrow even deeper into our financial system, then it is more urgent than ever that cryptocurrencies follow basic anti-money laundering rules.”
In December 2023, Warren wrote a letter to the United States Blockchain Association speaking out against lobbying by the crypto community.
Warren’s perspective was rejected by investors and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) spoke out against Warren’s proposed anti-money laundering digital asset law.
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