BlackRock Leak Reveals SEC Maintaining 'Radio Silence'; Bitcoin ETF Announcement 'Toward Week's End': Fox Business Journalist

A leak within BlackRock has revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will maintain a period of "radio silence" regarding spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) until the regulator has gone through the paperwork. The potential announcement will likely happen toward the end of the week.

The SEC is scheduled to make a decision on the spot Bitcoin ETF proposal of ARK Invest and 21Shares on Jan. 10, but rumors are rife that it might announce the list of approved proposals this week.

Last week, a report claimed that the SEC may inform hopeful issuers on Tuesday or Wednesday whether they are cleared to launch the spot Bitcoin ETF.

More information about the SEC and the timeline of its possible announcement of spot Bitcoin ETF approvals surfaced online this week.

Fox Business journalist Charles Gasparino shared that the commission will maintain silence on the highly anticipated crypto investment vehicle, citing sources from BlackRock. He believes an announcement will likely come "toward week's end."

Another Fox Business journalist, Eleanor Terrett, earlier revealed that the SEC is currently inundated with paperwork ahead of the deadline.

As a result, the regulatory body will need to conduct a thorough review and provide its comments on the filings before issuing any statements regarding the spot Bitcoin ETF applications.

The SEC has denied multiple applications to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs in the past. But the latest attempts by several Wall Street giants, including BlackRock, are expected to succeed, with many expecting that the approvals would happen simultaneously.

The ever-swelling hype surrounding the crypto investment vehicle has influenced the price of Bitcoin and over the past months, has pushed the oldest cryptocurrency to reach new highs.

Bitcoin saw its value break an intra-day high of $45,000 on Monday and the surge continued on Tuesday, a feat last seen 21 months ago in April 2022.

Bitcoin, the world's largest crypto asset by market capitalization, was trading in the green zone at $45,042.47, with a 24-hour trading volume up by 78.89% at $37,123,292,636 as of 8:39 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Bitcoin's latest price action represents a 0.92% increase in its value in the past 24 hours and a 6.50% gain over the last seven days.

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin's circulating supply stands at 19,587,950 BTC and its market cap is up by 0.93% at $885,575,320,872.