Speculation about the possibility that the Bitcoin Spot ETF applications from BlackRock and Grayscale, among others, to be approved this Friday, Jan. 5, is creating excitement and rising prediction in the crypto space.

At least for the well-known crypto journalist Jacquelyn Melinek is certain that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will issue a decision today.

She tweeted that she "heard from sources very close to the matter that the Bitcoin spot ETF will be approved by the SEC for applications from various companies." And when? They "expect news on Friday."

What also generated attention in the crypto space was a cryptic tweet from Grayscale's general counsel, in which Craig Salm wrote that he was "just filling out some forms."

Just filling out some Forms
— Craig Salm (@CraigSalm) January 4, 2024

But while half of crypto Twitter already sees these statements as proof of ETF approval today, the other half is more skeptical.

Crypto expert Eric Balchunas, for example, admits that issuers will file their final 19b-4 and S-1 forms soon after. However, that does not mean there are already "official commitments."

SEC is giving final comments as we speak, then issuers will submit final 19b-4s and S-1s soon after. So I mean this is def as close to "done" as we've been but no official approval as far as I know.
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 4, 2024

Meanwhile, Balchunas' colleague James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, described much of the speculation surrounding the upcoming Jan. 5 approval as much ado about nothing. According to him, investors should expect a decision from the SEC between Jan. 8 and Jan. 10.

Meanwhile, the crypto market is volatile in response to the conflicting news situation. Just at the beginning of the week, the statement "We expect the SEC to reject all applications in January" in a report by Matrixport brought Bitcoin down as much as 7 percent within 24 hours. Bitcoin's price is now up 1.5 percent and is trading at $43,842 at the time of writing. Compared to the previous week, this is an increase of 3 percent.