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Now the Bitcoin symbol images show falling prices again: “Must not be understood as a free ticket”

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DADO RUVIC / REUTERS

After a few days of euphoria, disillusionment seems to be spreading across the crypto market.

While Bitcoin had risen to over 42,000 euros a week ago after the initial approval of special stock exchange funds, it is currently trading significantly lower.

On Friday morning, the oldest and best-known digital system cost around 39,000 euros, at times it was even lower.

That means a price drop of over 10 percent.

“After the first approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF in the USA, there is a hangover mood in the market,” commented crypto expert Timo Emden from Emden Research.

Investors are obviously undergoing a fact check with a sober perspective.

The latest price development shows that ETF approval should not be understood as a “free pass for further price increases.”

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved eleven so-called spot ETFs on Bitcoin, including funds from large asset managers such as Blackrock and Fidelity.

There was great joy among Bitcoin fans; the approval is considered a milestone for the industry.

With the exchange-traded ETFs, US investors can for the first time invest directly in Bitcoin without having to buy the digital currency themselves.

(Read the SPIEGEL analysis of what the hype is about here.)

Supporters of the digital currency hope that the innovation will give Bitcoin a better reputation, from which other cryptocurrencies such as Ether could also benefit.

There is also the hope that the new ETFs will attract fresh money and give crypto prices a boost.

Despite strong price gains last year, Bitcoin is far from its record high from 2021.

At that time it rose to almost $69,000.

The US bank JPMorgan is more cautious about developments: its experts are more likely to expect shifts within the crypto sector than an influx of new money.

The latter depends less on new forms of investment and more on the scope that regulatory authorities grant so that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can establish themselves in the financial system.

hpp/dpa