Bitcoin (BTC) Dips Over 6% Today Below $54,000, Swedish Regulator Warns Against Bitcoin ETF

After hitting its new all-time high above $58,300 levels on Sunday, February 21, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has entered sharp correction today. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading 6.24% down at $53,894 with a market cap of $1.00 trillion.

Bitcoin surged past $50K levels for the very first time last week and has been surged nearly 18% since then by last Sunday. Also, Bitcoin (BTC) has managed to strongly hold above $1 trillion valuations over the last four days.

With the massive Bitcoin (BTC) price rally over the last few weeks, investments firms have started working around some Bitcoin ETF products once again. However, Sweden’s top-most financial regulator - Financial Supervisory Authority -  has warned investments firms or banks from offering crypto-based exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) to average customers.

With the FOMO all around, some uninformed investors usually tend to jump around such high-risk investment vehicles. The FSA thus warned that since retail buyers gains exposure to such volatile instruments, “the risk of large losses increases”.

The report from Bloomberg states that the FSA will take further action on firms “that sell the risky, complex instruments to retail investors who don’t understand what they’re getting into”. The FSA has also said that it will increase its regulatory scrutiny in this space going ahead.

Sweden is home to one of the biggest Bitcoin ETF products in the market. The $1.7 billion Bitcoin Tracker EUR is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. It invests in swap contracts and mirrors Bitcoin returns.

Apart from Europe, there’s some massive frenzy for Bitcoin ETF products in the North American market as well. Earlier this month, the Canadian regulators approved two Bitcoin ETFs - Purpose Bitcoin ETF and Evolve Bitcoin ETF - listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

The Purpose Bitcoin ETF made a stellar debut last week trading $421 million in assets in just the first two days of going live. Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas writes:  “$BTCC will likely reach $1b in assets by the end of next week. The biggest ETF in Canada is only $8b. The second biggest is $5b. I wouldn't be surprised if this passes one or both of them in next couple months (barring a nasty selloff, which is poss)”.

Everyone is eagerly waiting for the launch of the first Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. markets. Over the past, the U.S. SEC has rejected over a dozen ETF proposals. However, with recent institutional participations, investments firms are again filing fresh applications. Last week, digital asset manager NYDIG filed for a Bitcoin ETF with the SEC.