The crypto world reacts to day one of bitcoin spot ETF trading

Spot bitcoin ETFs officially started trading Thursday after receiving approval on Wednesday. Industry watchers and participants were quick to weigh in.

The ETFs have already seen record volumes of over $4 billion by the end of the day, and — despite some believing that the approvals could trigger a sell the news event — bitcoin’s price is holding around $46,000 after hitting a high of $49,000 early Thursday.

“The ETF will most likely create more demand which will therefore lead market makers to assign more capital to support that liquidity. Crypto market liquidity still hasn’t fully recovered from the FTX crash in November 2022,” Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, told Blockworks in an email.

“This could therefore benefit the entire crypto ecosystem, particularly as it starts to attract the attention of this new group of investors.”

In response to the approvals, Blockchain Association president Kristin Smith noted in a post on X that the “Law is on our side.”

“It took a legal challenge to get the ETF approvals yesterday. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is.”

The legal challenges to establish spot bitcoin ETFs have a lengthy history in the cryptocurrency space. Following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision, the issue has garnered substantial attention from both industry insiders and casual observers.

“While an approval may happen in a moment in time, the preparation is literally years and years of work on both sides,” Brett Tejpaul, Coinbase’s head of institutional, told Blockworks.

The Winklevoss twins, who were the first to file an application for a bitcoin ETF in 2013, made themselves heard after the SEC’s approval.

Cameron Winklevoss echoed Smith’s assessment, posting on X: “Just remember, the [SEC] didn’t approve Bitcoin ETFs because they wanted to, they approved them because they had to.”

Tyler Winklevoss, however, pointed out that the approvals demonstrate “the unstoppable power of Bitcoin and the inability of the establishment to stop it. They tried to fight it for over a decade and finally capitulated. Bitcoin won. It broke the establishment.”

The gravity of the moment was not lost on another longtime Bitcoiner, Erik Voorhees, who wrote on X that bitcoin’s is “the first ETF in history in which the underlying asset has a limited supply.”

Crypto CEOs also inserted themselves into the conversation. New Binance head Richard Teng said, “Today will be remembered in crypto history.” Crypto.com’s Kris Marszalek said approvals show “the US market is a long term crypto market.” Brad Garlinghouse of Ripple wrote, “I expect this will be yet another catalyst for institutional investment / adoption.”

On day one of spot bitcoin ETF trading, the brokerage platform Vanguard was found to be blocking the funds. Multiple crypto boosters took to X saying they had canceled their accounts on the platform.

“[G]enuine respect to those leaving Vanguard. [U]nfortunately there are only like 100 of you and they won’t care,” a Fireblocks researcher wrote.

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