First Mover Americas: Bitcoin at $34.5K on ETF Excitement

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

After briefly pushing past $35,000 toward the end of the U.S. trading day on Monday, bitcoin has consolidated to levels around $34,500. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has gained 12% over the past 24 hours. Analysts are attributing the sudden jump to BlackRock listing its bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. database with the ticker $IBTC. Blackrock also updated its filings with the SEC, indicating a readiness to seed the ETF starting from October 2023. “This proactive approach from Blackrock suggests their preparedness to initiate trading promptly upon receiving approval from the SEC, further substantiating the optimistic sentiment surrounding an impending approval,” said Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia, in a morning note. The cryptocurrency was back at levels last seen in May 2022, before the Terra-Luna, Three Arrows Capital, Genesis and FTX debacles turned the mood so sour that BTC approached $15,000.

Binance lost its head of U.K. operations last month, continuing a stream of high-level execs heading for the door at the world's largest crypto exchange. Jonathan Farnell, who served as head of Binance U.K. and CEO of its payment service Bifinity (which was disbanded in August) left the firm in September, according to his LinkedIn profile. "We'd like to thank Jonathan for his contributions and wish him all the best on his next challenge," Binance said in an emailed statement. Farnell joined Binance in May 2021, and the following year he became CEO of Eqonex, the holding company of crypto custodian Digivault, under the terms of a loan agreement that gave Binance the right to appoint a CEO from within Bifinity.

Bearish bets on bitcoin (BTC) have cost traders over $178 million in the past 24 hours as prices soared past a critical resistance level. Data shows bitcoin-tracked futures accounted for nearly 50% of the total $400 million in crypto liquidations over Monday, with ether futures seeing $50 million in liquidations over long and short positions. Liquidation occurs when an exchange forcibly closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the initial margin. It happens when a trader cannot meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position (fails to have sufficient funds to keep the trade open).

- Lyllah Ledesma