The long-awaited launch of bitcoin spot ETFs in the US this yr helped engender a wave of optimism that the worth of the well-known cryptocurrency would shortly admire. The logic was easy: With an straightforward, low-cost avenue now obtainable for normal traders to buy bitcoin, the supply-demand curve would shift and the worth of every bitcoin would rise.

However the response has been considerably combined. Whereas the worth of bitcoin has practically doubled up to now yr to round $43,000 immediately, it has largely traded sideways in latest weeks. Was the hype and ensuing response one other instance of the outdated Wall Avenue maxim, “Purchase the rumor, promote the information”?

To be trustworthy, we’re checking the flows into and out of spot bitcoin ETFs extra regularly than we need to admit, however we nonetheless needed to study extra. So, we requested TechCrunch readers in the event that they supposed to purchase bitcoin by way of one of many new spot ETFs, whether or not they owned bitcoin elsewhere, and what affect they anticipated these new investing autos to have on its worth and on crypto.

A number of dozen replies from founders and operators later, we discovered some fascinating traits. A couple of quarter of respondents to our little, unscientific survey reported that they don’t intend to purchase bitcoin by way of an ETF, and already personal bitcoin elsewhere. The place are people holding their cash? In all places, it seems: Self-custody, Coinbase, KuCoin, all kinds of areas. Relatively impressively, Dara Khan, the pinnacle of selling at First rate DAO’s bitcoin, mentioned her pockets ended up on the “backside of the ocean, misplaced it in a boating accident :(.”