Bitcoin is currently trading below $28,500, registering a 5% increase, following inaccurate reports about the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving the first Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).
The false news about the Bitcoin spot ETF approval broke on Monday, U.S. time, tricking the markets into a bullish phase. The price of Bitcoin temporarily surged towards $30,000, leading to $100 million of liquidations. The crypto news platform Cointelegraph, which had disseminated the misinformation through social media, retracted the claim and apologized for the error.
BlackRock and other sources were quick to refute the false information. Cointelegraph, in a statement on Monday evening, admitted to the mistake by its social media team and pledged to revise its internal practices.
According to data from CoinGlass, the total Bitcoin liquidations in the past 12 hours amounted to $137.2 million, with long liquidations standing at $45.6 million and short liquidations at $91 million.
In a note, David Lo, head of financial products at Bybit, pointed out that Bitcoin’s dominance in the overall crypto market capitalization is on the rise while Ethereum’s gas usage is witnessing a significant drop, leading to faster ether inflation.
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