On Friday (June 28), Bitcoin gave up its early Asian gains and fell back to the $61,500 level. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did not mention cryptocurrencies in the TV debate. Bloomberg reported that Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin. Wall Street asset management giant Van Eck submitted ETF documents for the US blue chip public chain Solana to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, stimulating the SOL token to decouple from the market and surge higher.
The first televised debate between the current US President Biden and Trump has ended, but no content related to cryptocurrency was mentioned, which led to a rise and then fall in Bitcoin prices.
Arno V Venter, an analyst at ForexLive, said: "The first presidential debate is over. We can draw a lot of conclusions from the political side, but it is not of much value to the market. The dollar initially saw some gains, but as the debate progressed, the trend fell back. For the market, the most striking comment was that Trump said the tariff plan would reduce the deficit and would not increase problematic inflation."
He continued: "Trump also mentioned that he would resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict before taking office. Overall, this 90-minute debate did not teach us anything, and the most important presidency is still unresolved."
"Tonight is a victory for memes," billionaire Elon Musk said on Twitter.
This may be a comment on the social media reaction after the first US presidential debate, suggesting that the content of the debate has triggered a large number of memes and online discussions.
He later added: "The president should be decided in a head-to-head golf match."
Corresponding to the golf handicap debate mentioned in the first debate, this tweet is obviously a mockery of the current US presidential election.
Bloomberg reports that Bitcoin’s performance is beginning to be overshadowed by Ethereum and Solana tokens.
On Thursday, fund manager VanEck submitted an application for the Solana ETF, stimulating the SOL token to record its biggest increase in more than a month. It is also reported that the Ethereum spot ETF will be approved for listing as early as July 4. Ethereum has surpassed Bitcoin this year.
In contrast, Bitcoin was in the spotlight in early 2024 when the first Bitcoin spot ETFs were approved for listing. Products from asset management giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity Investments attracted a large influx of funds, pushing Bitcoin to a record high of $73,798 in March, but demand and prices have since cooled.
Analysts have begun pushing back against expectations of sluggish demand for spot ETFs that hold ether, with the U.S. investment vehicles likely attracting $5 billion in net inflows in the first five months, according to Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC.
“Expectations for an Ethereum spot ETF have been overly pessimistic,” Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, wrote in the report.
He predicted that the ETF would be driven by hedge funds pursuing so-called fundamental trades.
Ethereum has gained 51% since the start of the year, outpacing Bitcoin’s 45% gain. Before Thursday’s gains, Solana had surged 754% in 12 months, making it the fifth-best digital asset.
U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs have attracted $14.5 billion in net inflows since their listing in January. JPMorgan strategists estimate that future Ethereum portfolios will attract a “modest” $1 billion to $3 billion in net inflows over the remainder of 2024.
After a court overturned the decision in 2023, the SEC reluctantly allowed a Bitcoin fund, then unexpectedly turned to approving a spot Ethereum ETF.
Although Bitcoin is considered a commodity, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler believes that most other tokens are unregistered securities and should be regulated by the agency. It is worth noting that Gensler has been vague on whether Ethereum is a security.
But Solana is one of more than a dozen unregistered securities listed by the SEC in various lawsuits, raising doubts about whether the regulator will allow a Solana ETF, as filings like VanEck’s don’t mean regulators will approve the product.
