Investing.com-- Bitcoin price slipped on Friday, pulling back even further from highs hit earlier in the week as concerns over high for longer U.S. interest rates largely offset a key development in the U.S. approval of exchange-traded funds that directly track Ether.
While Bitcoin was still sitting on some gains for the week, it was back within a $60,000 to $70,000 trading range seen for over two months. It also trimmed a bulk of its weekly gains on Thursday and Friday.
Bitcoin fell 3.6% in the past 24 hours to $67,486.0 by 08:12 ET (12:12 GMT).
Ether dips, set for stellar week as SEC approves listing of spot ETFs
World no.2 token Ether dipped 5.1% to $3,718.70 amid some profit-taking.
But the token was trading up 22% over the past seven days, buoyed chiefly by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of applications from several major exchanges to list a spot Ether ETF.
The SEC approval applications from the Nasdaq, CBOE and the NYSE to list ETFs that will directly track the price of Ether.
The step marked some progress towards the eventual approval of a spot ETF for trade, although the SEC has to now engage with applications from fund managers to list a spot ETF. Applicants include VanEck, ARK Investment Management and seven other issuers.
Rumblings of the SEC’s approval had boosted Ether prices through the week, with the actual event sparking fleeting gains in the token.
Crypto price today: US rate fears quash all optimism
But fears of high for longer U.S. interest rates were a key point of pressure on crypto markets, especially as hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve showed increasing anxiety amid policymakers over sticky inflation.
A slew of Fed members said that inflation was likely to take longer to reach the central bank’s 2% annual target, while the minutes of the bank’s late-April meeting showed some policymakers were even open to raising interest rates further.
This saw traders largely price out expectations for any rate cuts this year. Traders were seen pricing in a nearly equal probability of rate cut or a hold in September, at around 46%, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.
High for longer rates bode poorly for crypto, given that the sector usually thrives in low-rate, high-liquidity markets. Most token prices fell on this notion, with a rebound in the dollar also pressuring markets.
Solana fell 4.7% while XRP rose 0.9%. Meme tokens Investing.com Shiba Inu Index and DOGE/USD dropped 5.7% and 3.7%, respectively.
Ether approvals pave way for more crypto ETFs, likely in 2025 - analyst
The approval of ether spot ETFs likely opens the door for the next chapter of crypto ETFs, Standard Chartered (OTC:SCBFF) analysts said.
"For other coins markets will look ahead to their eventual ETF status as well, albeit this is likely a 2025 story not a 2024 one," Standard Chartered told The Block.
The bank’s analysts believe the green light for ether ETFs points to a notable shift in US regulators’ stance. Specifically, it suggests that ETH is not classified as a security by the SEC, thereby implying that other ETH-like coins, which were previously under scrutiny in cases such as the 2023 XRP case, may also not be considered securities.
"In several cases the core technology is so similar to ETH it would be difficult for the SEC to claim they were securities given the ETH position," analysts said. "The crypto industry now seems to have political backing on both sides of the aisle."
They view the latest support for crypto in the US as a "true watershed moment." As such, analysts think that the next question is not whether but when the market will witness more regulatory changes.