The price of BTC posted a double-digit tumble from last week\u2019s local high, significantly underperforming ETH and other leading altcoins despite the first spot Bitcoin ETFs going live.<\/p>\n
BTC last changed hands for $42,640, a 12% retracement from its Jan. 11 high of $48,500, according to CoinGecko. The bearish market action positions BTC as the second-weakest performing top 100 crypto asset by market cap over the past seven days.<\/p>\n Bitcoin\u2019s significant retracement comes despite the network gearing up for its\u00a0fourth quadrennial halving<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which will reduce the rate of new BTC creation by 50% \u2014 in April. The event has historically preceded impressive price gains for BTC and other digital assets. It also follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\u00a0approving<\/a>\u00a0the first spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The price of Ethereum has held much stronger in spite of apparent\u00a0heavy sales<\/a>\u00a0from Celsius, the bankrupt centralized crypto lender, with ETH down almost 6% from its Jan. 11 local high of $2,700.<\/p>\n Ethereum has benefitted from redirected ETF optimism, with pundits tipping Ether will be the next crypto asset greenlit for a spot exchange-traded fund by U.S. regulators.<\/p>\n Ark Invest and 21Shares teamed up to\u00a0file<\/a>\u00a0for a spot ETH ETF on Sept. 6 as bullish expectations for a spot Bitcoin ETF were surging after the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals overturned the SEC\u2019s decision to reject Grayscale\u2019s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF one week earlier. Grayscale\u00a0filed<\/a>\u00a0for its own spot Ether ETF on Sept. 19, while\u00a0BlackRock<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest asset manager,\u00a0entered<\/a>\u00a0the fray on Nov. 15.<\/p>\n Following several\u00a0delays<\/a>, the earliest\u00a0deadline<\/a>\u00a0for an SEC verdict on a pending spot ETH ETF application is currently set for late May. Traders speculating via Polymarket\u2019s prediction markets currently estimate there is a\u00a055%<\/a>\u00a0chance a spot Ether ETF will receive approval by May 31.<\/p>\n Ether is among 28 top 100 digital assets that posted double-digit gains for the week. Sui (SUI) topped the list with an 82.5% gain, followed by Ethereum Name Service (ENS) with 81%, Helium (HNT) with 49.7%, and Celestia with 43.9%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nSpot Ether ETF optimism<\/h2>\n
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