Bitcoin ETF news has been in the financial world lately, and it’s no surprise that everyone is eagerly anticipating the approval. Proponents of ETFs say they allow investors to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies easily in traditional accounts, without directly owning them.

With all eyes on the SEC, the approval announcement of the first spot bitcoin ETF was fumbled by Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC. The SEC failed to introduce a game-changing product to the traditional investment world properly. Investors were left wondering, what the heck happened?

A timeline:

2013: The first spot ETF was proposed, over 10 years ago.

The Winklevoss twins, Bitcoin billionaires, were some of the first who submitted an application to launch the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF and the proposal was rejected by the SEC. They continually cited concerns over a lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency market.

Over the next 8 years dozens of applications are either rejected or withdrawn.

2021: The first ever spot bitcoin ETF launches in Canada. The SEC missed its chance to crown the United States as first country in the world to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Fast forward to present day, and the SEC still appeared hesitant to approve the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF for trading in the US markets. January 10, 2024 will remain in history as one of the strangest ETF product launches in history.

Yesterday 1-9-2024, a consolation prize of sorts was caught up in the news that the SEC Twitter X account was “compromised”. Prior to any approvals being announced, a fake approval Twitter X message was sent from their official account.

The resulting uncertainty was capitalized on sending the market in to a 7% dip from a high around $47,000 USD. The even has now sparked more discontent about the SEC and their own “security”. They have declined to comment about the incident.

Where do we go from here?

Select spot Bitcoin ETFs are now expected to begin trading on January 11th.

Despite a strange beginning, the next chapter of bitcoin and Wall Street starts now.

The SEC has approved the following 11 spot bitcoin ETFs: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, Hashdex Bitcoin