Gate Daily Report (March 20): BlackRock Staking Ethereum ETF Surpasses $250 Million; Morgan Stanley Plans to Launch Bitcoin ETF

Bitcoin (BTC) price sharply declined, currently around $70,400 as of March 20. BlackRock’s Ethereum staking fund surpassed $250 million in its first week, staking between 70% and 95% of its ETH holdings. Morgan Stanley filed a second S-1 amendment, proposing a spot Bitcoin ETF with ticker MSBT.

Macro Events & Crypto Highlights

1. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHB), launched a week ago, has managed assets of $254 million. This indicates that investors have purchased $146 million worth of shares since the fund’s inception, with initial seed capital exceeding $100 million.

BlackRock launched ETHB on Nasdaq on March 12, with seed funding from its affiliate, BlackRock Financial Management. The fund stakes 70% to 95% of its ETH holdings, and 82% of the rewards are paid out monthly to investors, with the remaining 18% distributed among trust, custodians, and staking service providers.

2. Morgan Stanley submitted a second S-1 amendment to the SEC for its Bitcoin Trust, a spot Bitcoin ETF to be traded on NYSE Arca under the ticker MSBT.

If approved, MSBT will be the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued by a major U.S. bank, marking a shift from distributing third-party products (like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust IBIT) to directly charging management fees.

News & Market Updates

1. OpenAI plans to launch a desktop “super app” integrating Codex, ChatGPT, and browsers.

2. World Liberty Financial releases an open-source payment toolkit for AI agents, AgentPay SDK.

3. U.S. crypto market structure legislation advances in Senate hearings, with lawmakers weighing legislative pros and cons.

4. Prediction market Kalshi completes a new funding round exceeding $1 billion, with a valuation of $22 billion.

5. J.P. Morgan notes Hyperliquid is gaining attention as traders seek 24/7 oil trading.

6. Public company DDC Enterprise increases Bitcoin holdings by 200 BTC, totaling 2,383 BTC.

7. The Federal Reserve investigation stalemates, with uncertainty surrounding Wosh’s succession.

8. Kentucky crypto ATM bill adds hardware wallet provisions, accused of “de facto ban on self-custody.”

9. FBI warns of fake token scams impersonating the agency on Tron network.

Market Trends

1. Latest Bitcoin news: BTC price sharply down, currently around $70,400, with $146 million in liquidation over the past 24 hours, mainly long positions.

2. U.S. stock markets closed lower on March 19 amid renewed Middle Eastern energy attacks fueling inflation fears. Investors sharply cut expectations for Fed rate cuts this year. Despite Israel claiming to weaken Iran’s military and oil prices retreating from intraday highs, market confidence remains low, with all three major indices falling below the critical 200-day moving average. S&P 500 down 18.06 points, -0.3%, closing at 6,606.49. Dow Jones down 204.60 points, -0.4%, closing at 46,021.43. Nasdaq down 62.40 points, -0.3%, closing at 22,090.69.

(Source: Gate)

3. According to Gate’s BTC/USDT liquidation map, with the current price at $70,351.30, if it drops to around $68,542, the total long liquidation exceeds $291 million; if it rises to about $71,762, the total short liquidation exceeds $556 million. Short positions are significantly more liquidated than longs, so traders should control leverage wisely to avoid large-scale liquidations during market swings.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. In the past 24 hours, spot inflow was $2.45 billion, outflow $2.58 billion, net outflow $130 million.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. Over the last 24 hours, net outflows led in contracts for $BTC, $ETH, $XAU, $DOGE, $XAG, indicating trading opportunities.

KOL Insights

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Market changes happen so quickly. I don’t have the ability to do short-term trading, so I’ve been just buying double coins and watching the show. My simple view is: buy when prices hit my target levels, no shorting, no longing. Just yesterday, I was lamenting war escalation pushing oil prices over $100, and $BTC was about to break below $69,000. Then IEA announced member countries provided 426 million barrels of oil, ready for release.”

“That’s not all. The U.S. Treasury approved the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on ships, effectively lowering oil prices caused by the war. After these announcements, oil prices dropped from $100 to a low of $92, currently around $94, with US stocks and Bitcoin showing slight rebounds.”

“This is why it’s risky to leverage heavily in current markets—everything is driven by events. One second bullish, the next bearish due to an attack. The market is highly sensitive to news, so caution is essential.”

“Looking at Bitcoin data, turnover has slightly increased, with rising volume mainly from short-term traders, especially those bottom-fishing in recent days. The chip structure remains healthy and normal, as the weekly report indicated. Price fluctuations are still primarily war-driven.”

Today’s Outlook

1. Germany February Producer Price Index (MoM), previous -0.6%

2. Eurozone January Seasonally Adjusted Trade Balance (billion euros), previous 11.6

3. UK March CBI Industrial Orders Expectations, previous -28

4. Canada January Retail Sales (MoM), previous -0.4%

5. Japan Spring Equinox holiday, markets closed