Despite Bitcoin’s sideways path between $31,800-28,400 levels, we are beginning to see the return of sentiment to the markets notably.

We witnessed the number of open interest positions rise to the highest level since October of 2022 with more than 10.4 billion positions on August 8, according to CryptoQuant. A high number of open interests, which includes long and short positions, usually indicates an upcoming rise in momentum and volatility over the coming periods.

In addition, we have seen a resurgence in the talk of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, citing sources at both major asset managers BlackRock and Invesco, said that the SEC approval for the Bitcoin spot fund offering would be within four to six months.

Also, Cathie Wood, CEO and founder of Ark Invest, which manages a number of growth ETFs and which also applied to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF, spoke about that the SEC may approve the offering of a number of spot bitcoin ETFs simultaneously. It is prevailing on the approval of each fund individually.

Current Bitcoin ETFs are limited to holdings of futures contracts issued by regulated exchanges such as CME, as is the case with the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF).

Notably, we also saw PayPal launch its own stablecoin, PYUSD, in collaboration with blockchain infrastructure firm Paxos. While this new cryptocurrency was developed on the Ethereum ERC-20 network. However, the move, while important, has met with some skepticism from the markets, with some concerns that assets in digital wallets could be frozen in some cases as is the case with the stablecoin Tether (USDT).

The increase in the number of open positions reflects more positive sentiment among investors with more recognition, whether of the importance of cryptocurrencies as a means of settling payments or their importance as an investment, with the introduction of the new currency from PayPal, in addition to the upcoming launch of instant bitcoin funds. As the new offering of the PYUSD currency may provide more access for cryptocurrency networks to the one of the largest payments companies in the world. Also, offering Bitcoin ETFs may provide more access by individual investors, institutional investors, and large companies that may not be able to invest in cryptocurrencies directly.

On the other hand, current or upcoming regulatory restrictions and lawsuits and their developments remain the most prominent negative factors that may put pressure on the digital currency markets in general. Notable among these are developments in lawsuits against US arm of Binance and Coinbase, as well as developments in cases against XRP developer Ripple Lab after it allegedly made an unauthorized offering of financial instruments to institutional investors.