Bitcoin (BTC) saw a surge in prices on Tuesday after a U.S. court ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was wrong in denying crypto asset manager Grayscale’s request to convert its Bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), with the court asserting that the decision was arbitrary and capricious. Data tracked by analytics firm Santiment showed that nearly 30,000 BTC, worth $822 million at the going market rate of $27,400, were moved to addresses tied to centralized exchanges ahead of the ruling. This led to a 6% surge in Bitcoin prices, pushing the top cryptocurrency to $28,000.
The exchange supply of Bitcoin was boosted significantly just prior to Grayscale’s win over the SEC, Santiment tweeted, echoing on-chain analyst Ali Martinez’s comment. South Korea-based CryptoQuant’s data showed that the mean inflow or amount of BTC transferred to exchanges per transaction rose to 1.146, the highest since June 21, as prices rallied to $28,000. However, mean outflows also jumped to two-month highs and the net balance held on exchanges, especially those offering spot trading, declined.
Reserves held on U.S.-based spot exchanges continue to decrease while reserves on offshore exchanges, offering derivatives trading continue to increase. It’s a sign derivatives and offshore exchanges drive the current price action, CryptoQuant said in a Telegram message.