Bitcoin Spikes 10% on False Report of BlackRock ETF Approval

The price of Bitcoin this morning Eastern Time shot up and nearly touched $30,000 amid a flurry of false rumors about an exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval.

Right now, the price of the biggest digital asset by market cap is up 4% in the past 24 hours, trading for $27,974, according to CoinGecko.

But earlier, it briefly touched $29,483—a 6% jump in 15 minutes and 10% higher than it had been trading the day before. The rest of the crypto market followed, with major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana and Dogecoin all jumping in price.

The reason? Crypto news publication Cointelegraph tweeted that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.

Cointelegraph did not give a source, but analysts then wrote on Twitter that they were trying to confirm the rumor. The media company has since deleted its tweet and posted an apology on Twitter.

“We apologize for a tweet that led to the dissemination of inaccurate information regarding the Blackrock Bitcoin ETF,” the outlet said, adding that “an internal investigation is currently underway.”

BlackRock said in an email that the ETF was “still under review by the SEC.”

Bitcoin’s price dropped again fast after ETF experts and other news publications confirmed that the SEC had not approved the investment vehicle.

And millions of dollars in positions got liquidated: CoinGlass data shows that nearly $79 million in short positions have been liquidated in the hours following the tweet. In the past 24 hours, $136.5 million in positions have been liquidated.

BlackRock—the world’s biggest fund manager which manages $9.5 trillion in assets—applied to the SEC for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund back in June.

Institutional investors poured money into the space and in turn caused the asset to jump to a 12-month high.

But the SEC has since delayed giving an answer on the long-list of Bitcoin ETF applications it has from high-profile fund managers sitting on its desk.

Big investors are hungry for a Bitcoin ETF because it would give them access to Bitcoin without having to deal with complex storage issues. It is expected that if a Bitcoin ETF gets approved, lots of money would flow into the space, leading to a price boom.

A spot Bitcoin ETF does not yet exist in the U.S. because the SEC has been reluctant to approve such a product, citing market manipulation as one of the concerns.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:14 a.m. ET to include statements from BlackRock and Cointelegraph and stats from CoinGlass on Bitcoin futures contracts that were liquidated.