Bitcoin To $30k And Back Amid False ETF Reports

Crypto Twitter was in a frenzy last night after an errant tweet from Cointelegraph had investors momentarily believe the SEC finally approved a spot ETF for BlackRock. Community reaction to the “news” was instant, with the price of BTC rocketing past $30k, only to fall back to under $28k once it was made clear the tweet was inaccurate.

Cointelegraph Responds to Controversy

In a follow-up tweet, Cointelegraph apologised for their mistake and promised to continue holding themselves to a “high journalistic standard”. 

However, the crypto world was not immediately willing to accept the apology. Cointelegraph’s secondary post was met with a lot of anger and speculation, with some claiming the misleading tweet was a deliberate ploy for employees to capitalise on market manipulation. 

No you absolutely do NOT. You apparently don’t hold yourself to either basic journalistic standards, people management standards or even ethics/honesty standards. (This wasn’t an “oops” or isolated incident.)

Constant misinformation spread is more than an “ooops.” And it wasn’t…

— Michelle Nightengale 🇺🇸 (@BoostBizOnline) October 16, 2023

While Cointelegraph undoubtedly made an error in publishing the tweet, the company’s editor-in-chief was steadfast that some of the onus must be put back onto the reader. She claimed that the tweet was not accompanied by any article or any source – so investors jumped into Bitcoin buy orders almost immediately upon receiving the “news” without doing any due diligence.

The SEC jumped in with a cheeky tweet too:

Careful what you read on the internet. The best source of information about the SEC is the SEC.

— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) October 16, 2023

More than anything, events like this demonstrate the immaturity of the crypto media landscape and how the community often acts on excitement and emotion, rather than sound investment strategies. The fast news cycle is a huge culprit here, with investors led to believe if they do not act quickly, they will miss out on potential profits – aka FOMO trading.

Bitcoin Price Action Demonstrates Appetite for Crypto

Although Bitcoin rose and fell from $30k within hours, the news ended up being positive for BTC’s price action anyway. The coin managed to break through the $27k barrier it has been testing for the past few weeks and now sits comfortably around the $28k mark – an overnight increase of 5%.

The incredibly fast and powerful reaction to the “news” – even though it was fake – demonstrated an appetite for both a spot Bitcoin ETF and Bitcoin in general. The overwhelmingly positive response appears to have heartened flighty investors, with bullish traders now eyeing off the $30k resistance level.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was oblivious to the whole fiasco until it had already been resolved. However, he viewed the reaction as an “example of the pent-up interest in crypto” and went on to say his company had been “hearing from clients around the world about the need for crypto”.