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With the Bitcoin price soaring to new highs, the cryptocurrency community is excitedly buzzing as all signs point towards an imminent approval of the highly anticipated Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) applications.  This positive sentiment has propelled the Bitcoin price past the $47,100 mark, reaching levels not seen since April 2022 and inching closer to the coveted $50,000 milestone and its all-time high (ATH) of $69,000. SEC Fast-Tracks Bitcoin ETF Review Earlier this morning, several prominent players in the financial industry submitted their final registration of securities amendments for a Spot Bitcoin ETF.  The list of applicants includes VanEck, Bitwise, Fidelity, Valkyrie, Franklin, Ark Invest, Grayscale, BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Invesco Galaxy. This development has further fueled the bullish Bitcoin price action. Related Reading: Shiba Inu Breakout To $0.001? Rumored 9.25 Trillion SHIB Token Burn Could Be The Catalyst In recent updates regarding the Bitcoin ETF applications, James Seyffart, an ETF expert at Bloomberg, revealed that the 19b-4 filings were pouring onto the SEC website.  Although the process typically takes a few days to a couple of weeks, this influx of filings indicates that the SEC is expediting its review for this week.  It is worth noting that the timeframe of January 8th to 10th has been closely watched by industry observers, and the accelerated pace of the SEC’s actions during this period adds to the anticipation surrounding the Bitcoin ETF approval. Standard Chartered Expects $200,000 Bitcoin Price As the Bitcoin price continues its upward trajectory, accompanied by widespread anticipation of imminent ETF approval, British multinational bank Standard Chartered has made a significant statement.  The bank believes that ETF approval will serve as a pivotal catalyst for Bitcoin’s price surge, heralding a transformative moment for institutional participation in the cryptocurrency.  Standard Chartered expects this approval to drive substantial inflows and contribute to significant price gains for Bitcoin. Standard Chartered views the approval of Bitcoin ETFs as a watershed moment in normalizing institutional investment in Bitcoin. With regulatory clearance for ETFs, institutional money is expected to pour into the cryptocurrency market, further validating Bitcoin as an asset class. Related Reading: A Bullish Beginning? $151 Million Poured Into Crypto Funds In 2024’s First Week Standard Chartered predicts that the price gains resulting from the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States will be of a similar magnitude as witnessed previously.  However, the bank anticipates these gains to materialize over a shorter period of one to two years, considering the accelerated development of the Bitcoin ETF market.  In line with their end-2024 projection of Bitcoin reaching $10,000, Standard Chartered expects the approval of ETFs to drive inflows that could potentially elevate the price to around $20,000 by the end of 2025. Bitcoin has reached the $47,100 mark, up a staggering 6.5% in the last 24 hours alone, coupled with an 8.7% increase in the last seven days. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com