Bitcoin falls 9%, dropping below $42K amidst concerns about GBTC flows
Bitcoin (BTC) prices fell significantly on Jan. 12 as Bitcoin ETFs headed into the weekend after their first two days of trading on U.S. markets.
The price of Bitcoin fell as low as $41,730 at 10:25 p.m. UTC on Friday, marking a 24-hour loss of approximately 9%. As of 11:25 p.m. UTC, Bitcoin’s price had partially recovered to $42,850 for a market capitalization of $840 billion.
Bitcoin last saw similarly low prices on Jan. 3. At that time, the price of BTC started to rise as investors began to anticipate upcoming spot ETF approvals.
The crypto market was down 5.3% over the 24 hours ending at 11:25 p.m. on Friday. Bitcoin (BTC) was down 7.7%, Solana (SOL) was down 9.2%, Avalanche (AVAX) was down 9.1%, Cardano was down 6.2%, XRP was down 5.5%, and Ethereum (ETH) and BNB were down 3.9%.
GBTC redemptions may have caused price slide
The reason for BTC’s price drop is unclear. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have attracted significant demand, with reports of over $4 billion in volume on the first day of trading, and that demand should drive up Bitcoin prices.
However, there are other factors at play. SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci suggested that Bitcoin’s falling price may be due to sales of shares from Grayscale’s GBTC fund, which was converted to a spot Bitcoin ETF on Thursday. CNBC’s Ran Neuner similarly suggested that GBTC Bitcoin could re-enter the supply without being invested in Bitcoin ETFs. Neuner wrote:
“I doubt that the ETF providers have this much demand as quickly.“
Bloomberg’s James Seyffart contested this explanation. He identified –$95 billion of GBTC outflows on the first day of trading, calling this “just a fraction” of what many expected.
Other negative developments may have also affected investor sentiment, indirectly impacting Bitcoin trading and supply. Those events include Vanguard’s decision to exclude spot Bitcoin ETFs from its platform, U.S. lawmaker backlash against the SEC’s failure to secure its X account, and Senator Elizabeth Warren’s objection to the SEC’s ETF approval decision.
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