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Bitcoin ETF Chaos Memorialized on Blockchain, With Nod to 'Chancellor on the Brink' Reference
Jokester pays $2.97 to record the one-liner "SEC Chairman on the brink of second ETF approval" on the blockchain.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 7:39 p.m. Published Jan 10, 2024, 2:48 p.m.
As speculation swells to a fever pitch over the imminent approval of bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the U.S., one clever jokester has apparently gone to the lengths of memorializing the hype into the world's largest blockchain.
With analysts speculating that the approval could come as soon as Wednesday and that the vehicles theoretically could start trading as early as Thursday, one Bitcoin user posted a transaction late Tuesday that included the encoded message, "SEC Chairman on the brink of second ETF approval."
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The sentence was embedded using Bitcoin's OP_RETURN function, which makes a transaction unspendable but allows for data up to 80 bytes. According to the website mempool.space, which tracks activity on the Bitcoin blockchain, the fee paid was $2.97.
The SEC has been at the center of intense speculation not only because of the regulator's longstanding opposition to a spot Bitcoin ETF, but also a hack on Tuesday of its official Twitter account that led to a fake posting of an approval announcement, roiling crypto markets.
The choice of wording for Tuesday's Bitcoin transaction stunt recalls the message purportedly embedded into the blockchain's original "Genesis" block in 2009, a headline from British newspaper The Times that read: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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