Short traders lose $16 million in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF application | CoinDesk JAPAN | CoinDesk Japan

The prospect of a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) filing in the US by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, led to a slight shift in market behavior in the early hours of June 16th. It fueled a bullish outlook among some traders.

Coindesk reported on the 15th that BlackRock plans to offer a Bitcoin ETF with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as custodian. The filing was later confirmed, showing that the company’s iShares fund management division had submitted documents for the formation of a Bitcoin ETF.

“An estimated 20% of Americans have owned bitcoin. BlackRock’s proposed ETF could provide the remaining 80% with a more accessible and accessible option,” CF said. CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chung told CoinDesk in an email. “BlackRock’s growing involvement shows that Bitcoin continues to be an asset of interest to some of the world’s largest financial institutions.”

Bitcoin surged back to the $25,500 level early on the 16th, wiping out the previous two days of losses that fell to $24,860. The move has also impacted major tokens such as Polygon Network’s MATIC and Cardano’s ADA, which have nominally risen to cushion losses from two days of declines.

Dogecoin (DOGE) led the rise of major tokens with a 4% jump, while Litecoin (LTC) surged 3.3%.

Such strength in Bitcoin has influenced bets on the asset as BTC-backed futures have liquidated over $16 million short over the past 24 hours. However, this number was lower than usual. Some traders were betting with less money than usual due to the big sell-off over the past week.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has so far rejected applications from investment firms such as Grayscale, VanEck and WisdomTree to list bitcoin ETFs spot.

However, it may be difficult for the SEC to reject the high-profile BlackRock filing. Some say that if the application is approved, it could fuel Bitcoin’s extraordinary rally.

｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Toshihiko Inoue
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original: Bitcoin Shorts Lose $16M as BlackRock ETF Filing Sparks Bullish Outlook