According to CoinDesk, the approval of spot ether ETF regulatory filings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet led to a rally in cryptocurrency prices. Instead, the market has continued to slide, with Bitcoin (BTC) losing over 3.4% in the last 24 hours to trade around $67,400 and Ethereum (ETH) down by approximately 4.5% at $3,700. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which measures the broader digital asset market, has also lost over 3.3%.
Despite the SEC's approval, Ether ETFs are not yet cleared to trade as the SEC still needs to approve their S-1 filings before investors can buy them. This approval came as a surprise to many, as the SEC, after clearing spot bitcoin ETFs in January, did not seem to engage much with issuers on ether ETFs until recently.
In the lead-up to the SEC's ETF decision, both Bitcoin and Ether experienced significant price fluctuations. ETH fell to $3,500 before surging to $3,900 as initial reports of some filings' approval began to surface. BTC, on the other hand, dropped below $66,500, then spiked to $68,300 before settling just below $68,000. Liquidations across all leveraged crypto derivative positions soared to over $350 million during the day, the highest since May 1, according to CoinGlass data. The majority of these positions were longs betting on rising prices, worth roughly $250 million, suggesting that over-leveraged traders were caught off-guard by the sudden price drop.
In other news, Kabosu, the Shiba Inu dog who inspired the Dogecoin meme and subsequently the DOGE cryptocurrency, has passed away at the age of 17. Kabosu's image led to the creation of DOGE in 2013, which started as a joke currency. DOGE's success later led to the emergence of other dog-themed tokens such as SHIB and FLOKI, which have collectively become one of the industry's largest sectors. A farewell party for Kabosu is planned for Sunday, May 26th.