Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drops Below $100K After SEC Approves Hashdex and Franklin Templeton's Spot BTC/ETH ETFs

Bitcoin's price dropped below $100,000 after a 4% decline over 24 hours, just as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave its approval

Bitcoin’s price dropped below the $100,000 threshold on December 19 as both BTC and ETH faced record outflows from their respective exchange-traded products. Despite the new ETF approvals, Bitcoin fell to $95.5K, and Ethereum dropped to a daily low of $3,330.87 from trades that began at $3,717.66.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave its approval to Hashdex and Franklin Templeton’s spot BTC/ETH combination exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday. The approval follows a string of rejections and pending applications by other asset managers.

Hashdex and Franklin Templeton ETF Approved by SEC

The SEC announced on December 19 that it had authorized Hashdex and Franklin Templeton to begin trading their BTC-ETH investment products on the Nasdaq stock market and Cboe BZX Exchange. The new offerings are named Hashdex’s Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF and Franklin Crypto Index ETF.

These ETFs will track spot prices of Bitcoin and Ether. The Franklin Templeton ETF follows the Institutional Digital Asset Index, which reflects the price movements of cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. Hashdex’s ETF monitors the Nasdaq Crypto US Settlement Price Index.

The SEC also noted in a separate filing that it had approved the application by Franklin Templeton on an “accelerated basis.” Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, predicts that these investment products could launch in January. The ETFs share substantial similarities with other Bitcoin and Ether ETPs that received approval earlier this year.

“The development is a key milestone in the crypto industry’s effort to gain greater access to traditional markets. However, the SEC has yet to approve any spot Bitcoin ETF, despite several applications.”

Both BTC and ETH ETFs Hit Record Outflows

Data from SoSoValue shows that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $680 million on December 19, marking the highest single-day outflow in history and the first single-day net outflow in 15 days.➸ Spot Ethereum ETFs experienced a total net outflow of $60.4677 million, their first net outflow in 18 days.

Bitcoin fell to $95.5K despite the new ETF approvals, while Ethereum declined to a daily low of $3,330.87 from trades that began at $3,717.66. Ethereum’s trading volume increased by 11.55% to $57.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data, but the cryptocurrency has struggled to maintain prices above $4,000 in past weeks.

The digital asset last dropped below the $3,300 level on November 21 and began trades at $3,277.93 on December 19. Ethereum’s price dropped by 10.3% over the past week and 2.3% in the last 24 hours.

The price of BTC also dropped by 4% over the last 24 hours and 9.4% in the past week. Bitcoin began the day’s trades at $99,823 and dropped to a daily low of $95,480 from trades that started at $99,823. BTC trades at a maximum price of $99,999 and a minimum price of $95,480, with a trading volume of $406 million.