Bitcoin ETF ‘Leak’ Sparks Wild Speculation Wall Street Is ‘Racing’ Toward A Huge Price Game-Changer

Bitcoin
BTC
has been turbo-charged this year by the long-awaited arrival of a fleet of Wall Street spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—with BlackRock’s chief executive issuing an “urgent” U.S. dollar warning.

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The bitcoin price has erased its 2022 price crash, climbing to over $70,000 per bitcoin on the back of the BlackRock-led bitcoin ETF boom (though the Federal Reserve may have created a perfect storm for the bitcoin price).

Now, as traders bet bitcoin’s looming halving could cause price chaos, claims of a Wall Street bitcoin ETF leak have triggered wild social media speculation that a bitcoin price game-changer is just around the corner.

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Banking giant Morgan Stanley
MS
wants “to be the first wirehouse to fully approve the bitcoin ETFs,” an influential, anonymous bitcoin commentator posted to X, claiming without evidence to have spoken to “several” Morgan Stanley executives and adding it’s “interesting that global banks are talking about bitcoin ETFs as a race.”

“I heard from solid source none of them have added the bitcoin ETFs, still in holding pattern, in a compliance game of chicken, waiting for one of them to go first then gives rest cover,” Bloomberg Intelligence’s respected ETF analyst Eric Balchunas replied. “So probably will be an all at once type moment, when that is though is [the question].”

Total inflows in to the near-dozen new spot bitcoin ETFs this week hit $12.2 billion, according to CoinGlass data, led by the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock and investment giant Fidelity. Last week, a leak suggested a Hong Kong spot bitcoin ETF could be about to trigger a China bitcoin price boom.

Last month, the chief investment officer at bitcoin ETF issuer Bitwise, Matt Hougan, predicted wirehouses opening up bitcoin ETFs to retail investors, hedge funds and independent financial advisors would trigger an “even bigger” wave to hit the bitcoin price than the ETF approvals in January.

Meanwhile, Wall Street giants Citi, Goldman Sachs
GS
, UBS, and Citadel have joined JPMorgan and Jane Street as authorized participants for BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Bitcoin ETF authorized participants can create and redeem shares of the ETF, exchanging them for either a corresponding basket of securities or cash.

The banks getting involved mean that “big time firms now want piece of action and/or are now OK being publicly associated w[ith] this,” Balchunas posted to X.

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Alongside excitement over bitcoin ETFs, crypto traders are also focused on bitcoin’s April supply cut, known as a halving, that will see the flow of new bitcoin decrease by half in just two weeks.

“As the bitcoin market continues to mature, the upcoming halving might play out differently than we’ve historically seen,” Ben Weiss, the chief executive of CoinFlip, said in emailed comments.

“Factors such as successful bitcoin ETF approvals from major institutions such as BlackRock and the upcoming election could also influence the price of bitcoin. Similarly to the recent ETF approvals, people are eager to see the impact of the upcoming halving and as anticipation ramps up, we will likely see bitcoin believers buying it ahead of time.”