Could This Be the Reason Bitcoin Spot ETFs Haven’t Catapulted Crypto Prices Skyward?

This year’s highly anticipated debut of bitcoin spot ETFs in the US ushered in a surge of enthusiasm, with many predicting a swift increase in bitcoin’s value. The assumption was straightforward: the introduction of an accessible, affordable method for the average investor to buy bitcoin would alter the supply-demand dynamics, potentially boosting the cryptocurrency’s price.

The market reaction, however, has been ambivalent. Although bitcoin’s value has surged to approximately $43,000, nearly double that of last year, its price has seen periods of stagnation recently. Could this be yet another case illustrating the old adage from Wall Street, “Buy the rumor, sell the news”?

We must admit, our analysis of the capital movements into and out of these bitcoin spot ETFs has been more frequent than we’d like, yet our curiosity has not been satisfied. Hence, we turned to TechCrunch readers, inquiring whether they planned to utilize the new ETFs to invest in bitcoin, if they already possessed bitcoin through other means, and what effects they anticipated these financial instruments would have on its market value and the broader cryptocurrency sector.

After collating replies from dozens of founders and industry experts, some intriguing patterns emerged. Roughly one-fourth of the participants in our informal poll indicated they had no plans to invest in bitcoin through an ETF and instead held bitcoin through alternative avenues. How are these individuals managing their bitcoin? The answers were varied: personal wallets, Coinbase, KuCoin, and many other platforms. Notably, Dara Khan, marketing lead at Decent DAO’s bitcoin division, humorously claimed her wallet met an unfortunate fate, stating, “lost it in a boating accident :(.”