Newly compiled data from BitMEX Research estimates there are 150 crypto ETPs available today, with $50.3 billion in assets under management. The current $50 billion cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded fund (ETF) market may eventually be dwarfed by US-approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. The list tracks the performance of Ethereum and Bitcoin and covers spot and futures funds. Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust, the biggest ETP on the list, is presently working to become a spot ETF product.
Market observers predict that the SEC's approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF, which is expected to happen as early as January 10, will eventually double the amount of money invested in cryptocurrency ETPs.
On December 14, cryptocurrency investing firm Bitwise projected that spot Bitcoin ETFs would be the most popular ETF product ever introduced. Within the next five years, they should handle almost $72 billion in assets, which is more than twice the size of the existing market.
A more realistic prediction came from global investment manager Van Eck, who calculated that in the first quarter of 2024, almost $2.4 billion will go into spot Bitcoin products.
Sotheby's sold $35 million worth of digital art in 2023
The 279-year-old British-American auction house recorded the highest fee for digital artwork yet in 2023.
Sotheby's made nearly $35 million in digital art sales this year, according to Michael Bouhanna, vice president and head for digital art. The company conducted its first live digital art auction with 300 attendees and $12 million in sales. The highest fee for digital artwork was $6.2 million for the non-fungible token "Ringers #879" created by digital artist Dmitri Cherniak.
In total, the auction house has held more than twenty-five auctions, with a sole focus on digital art or including it in sales of contemporary art. Additionally, the business has introduced Sotheby's Metaverse, an on-chain marketplace for the secondary trading of NFTs.
Bouhanna states that Sotheby's will concentrate on “supporting creators and enhancing their primary market strategies” in the upcoming year.
When it auctioned off the creations of a digital artist going by the alias Pak in April 2021, the 279-year-old British-American clearing house made its debut on the NFT scene. Since then, Sotheby's has sold digital art in several record-breaking auctions.
SEC sets deadline for spot Bitcoin ETF updates on Dec. 29
The issuers that don’t meet the Dec. 29 deadline will not be part of the first wave of potential spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in early January.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set a deadline for spot Bitcoin ETF applicants to file final S-1 amendments by December 29. The SEC officials met with representatives from at least seven firms hoping to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024, including BlackRock, Grayscale Investments, ARK Invest, and 21 Shares. The meetings also included representatives from exchanges that would potentially list the new products, lawyers, and issuers.
Regulators told attendees that any issuer that doesn't meet the deadline will not be part of a first wave of potential spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in early January. Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett confirmed the date for final amendments to all S-1s by December 29. Applications that are fully finished and filed by Friday will be considered in the first wave, and filings that mention in-kind creation will be rejected.
