crypto

Jack Morse5/23/24

Crypto fans rejoice as the SEC approves ethereum ETFs

Ethereum’s officially joining the spot ETF party.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved eight applications for spot ethereum ETFs Thursday afternoon. The regulator still needs to approve a second set of forms, dubbed S-1 forms, before the ETFs can start trading.

The approval capped a surprising 180 by the regulator, which had before this week been viewed by crypto-industry insiders as unlikely to give the green light to these funds. Prediction markets had already flipped their outlook from negative to very, very positive as the deadline for the SEC’s decision neared.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said shifting political winds could provide an explanation for the change of heart. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House passed a bill that’d make the CFTC the primary regulator responsible for crypto (as opposed to the SEC).

The price of ether whipsawed and crypto Twitter celebrated on news of the approval.

SEC Approves Spot Ether ETF Listing, Still Needs to Approve Issuers' Filings

SEC Approves Spot Ether ETF Listing, Still Needs to Approve Issuers' Filings

The approval capped a surprising 180 by the regulator, which had before this week been viewed by crypto-industry insiders as unlikely to give the green light to these funds. Prediction markets had already flipped their outlook from negative to very, very positive as the deadline for the SEC’s decision neared.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said shifting political winds could provide an explanation for the change of heart. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House passed a bill that’d make the CFTC the primary regulator responsible for crypto (as opposed to the SEC).

The price of ether whipsawed and crypto Twitter celebrated on news of the approval.

More Crypto

crypto

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy6h

Crypto platform BlockFills halts withdrawals

Crypto lending and trading platform BlockFills has halted customer withdrawals amid the current market downturn, according to The Wall Street Journal, a development that recalls the broader meltdown of the 2022 crypto bear market, albeit on a much smaller scale.

This morning, bitcoin dipped below $67,000, and it was hovering around that level midafternoon, struggling to recover from last week’s bloodbath.

“BlockFills is working tirelessly to bring this matter to a conclusion and will continue to regularly update our clients as developments warrant,” a spokesperson told the WSJ.

The Chicago-based, Susquehanna-backed company’s “suspension was put in place last week but remains in effect,” the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The company, which serves institutional clients, handled $60 billion in trading volume in 2025, per the FT.

Ethan Buchman, CEO of Cycles, told Sherwood News that BlockFills halting withdrawals is a harsh reminder that, despite changes since the panic of 2022, the crypto industry still has a long way to go in developing off-chain risk infrastructure with stronger standards for underwriting, clearing, and settlement.

crypto

Sage D. Young10h

Ethereum ETF holders still “diamond-handing” despite hurting more than their bitcoin counterparts

Holders of spot ethereum ETFs are in more pain than bitcoin investors.

The price of ethereum stands around $1,940 as of Wednesday morning, representing about a 45% drop from $3,500, the average cost basis of spot ethereum ETF holders, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart.

The losses of ethereum ETF holders are larger than bitcoin fund investors based on available data. Bitcoin is trading at $68,822, representing an 18% slide from the the cost basis for all its ETFs of $83,983, data from Glassnode shows.

While facing larger losses than their bitcoin ETF peers, the vast majority of ethereum ETF buyers have stayed put. “The net inflows into the ETH ETFs have gone from about $15 billion down below $12 billion. This is a much worse selloff than the Bitcoin ETFs on a relative basis, but still fairly decent diamond hands in grand scheme (for now),” Seyffart said on Tuesday on X.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Bitcoin is in a “macro tug-of-war” as asset struggles to recover

Bitcoin is resting on a 200-week EMA, “a key level that systematic and momentum trading strategies look at.”

Hands pulling on rope during game of tug-of-war

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Abra CEO: This is not bitcoin’s “worst time ever” and advises “when in doubt, zoom out”

Over the last 12 years, Bill Barhydt has lived through “multiple 70% bitcoin drawdowns.”

bitcoins on the eyes

crypto

Sage D. Young2/9/26

Meme coins have lost all their 2026 gains and continue to dive

Despite having an early lead in year-to-date gains, meme coins have round-tripped and bled even more.

For example, frog-based token pepe was up 75% in the first four days of January, but is now about 8% lower than where it started the year. Dogecoin, shiba inu, bonk, pengu, dogwifhat, and trump tell a similar story: posting a positive gain and then slumping into the red.

Screenshot 2026-02-09 at 11.32.10 AM.png — The year-to-date price performances of the top meme coins by market capitalization (TradingView)

Meme coins, cryptocurrencies based on internet jokes that are often critiqued for lacking utility, are reflexive: they can lead gains during bullish market conditions, but see sharper declines in bearish ones. The entire category of meme coins has shed 25.8% of its valuation in the year so far, data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis shows.

The price action of meme coins comes amid a broader market decline that saw bitcoin drop to $63,000 last week as its peers revisited cycle lows.

“The market has, in large, been bleeding, whether major, altcoin, or meme,” according to Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at on-chain data firm Nansen. “It is not surprising to me to see that larger memes as well have been trending down.”

He told Sherwood News, “If we also consider the fact that there are less active wallets now compared to a few months ago, it also makes sense that larger ‘household’ memes would decline as money shifts around to the next shiny thing.”

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