On January 17th, cryptocurrency KOL Autism Capital responded to the false news report about the approval of a Bitcoin ETF on social media. In the video, Cointelegraph editor Kristina Lucrezia stated that this is not a problem with journalism, but rather a problem with society and social media. If you are not the first to report, it means you are the last, and this is what happens when Cointelegraph constantly faces pressure to be the first to report every piece of news.

Bitcoin surged over 10% on Monday, driven by rumors that the BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF has been approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said this is like a rehearsal, letting the market know what will happen if the Bitcoin Spot ETF is really approved. This basically provides traders with a script.

The launch of six exchange-traded funds tracking ether futures contracts in the US has pulled in just under $10 million in their first week of trading, according to CoinShares data. However, the timing of the futures ETFs could hardly be worse, as investors are running from risk amid economic gloom and war in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Cointelegraph conducted an internal investigation into the false news about the approval of the iShares Bitcoin Spot ETF under BlackRock last night. The origin of this news was an unconfirmed screenshot posted by a user named X (formerly Twitter), who claimed it came from Bloomberg Terminal. The editorial team initially received an alert about this false news through a Telegram channel. To report the situation as quickly as possible, an employee posted the report on X without confirming the authenticity of the editor's source in advance. Cointelegraph stated: "This violates Cointelegraph's social media process. In this process, the source needs to be confirmed and approved by the editor before publication."

Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett said on X platform that the SEC has confirmed that the ETF has been approved as false news.

Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said on social media that Cathie Wood stated that the staff of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (who are currently in their first-ever contact with spot issuers) understand Bitcoin and its advantages, but Gary (SEC Chairman) is blocking their path (which is also what we feel). It is worth noting that Gary has begun to publicly state that he is looking forward to the staff's recommendations (as he said before proposing the BTC futures ETF in October 2021), so Cathie is optimistic that the staff will have no problem. This is also why our chances of success were as high as 90% by January.

Cointelegraph officials apologized for the spread of incorrect information regarding the approval of the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF. The team is currently conducting an internal investigation, which will be completed within 3 hours, and the results will be shared with the public afterwards.

Cointelegraph had previously reported that the tweet announcing the approval of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Spot ETF by the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been deleted.

ProShares has launched three Ethereum futures ETFs and is now preparing to launch a new offering, the Short Ether Strategy ETF (SETH), which aims to mirror the inverse of the daily S&P CME Ether Futures Index performance. SETH will not engage in direct shorting of ether, but rather seeks to capitalize on potential declines in the asset's value. The fund is scheduled for listing on the NYSE Arca exchange in early November. ProShares' existing ether futures funds, including two that invest in both ether and bitcoin futures contracts, debuted on Oct. 2 alongside similar products by VanEck and Bitwise.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said in an interview that "the spot Bitcoin ETF application is about to be approved." He mentioned Grayscale's recent victory in SEC litigation and BlackRock's successful ETF application rate, "the company has almost a perfect record in launching ETFs." Hougan also said that the demand for spot cryptocurrency ETFs is expected to be 100 times that of futures ETFs, which will have a greater impact on the market.