Why now? SEC took eight years to authorize a Bitcoin ETF.

Eight years in the making, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) silent approval of a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) last week elicited a wave of exuberance in the crypto space and sent the price of the key digital currency to a new all-time high. Despite some analysts and industry participants having reservations regarding the nature of the approved product — ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) being futures-based rather than tracking Bitcoin’s spot price — the development has been overwhelmingly hailed as a breakthrough moment in crypto history.Ahead of BITO’s momentous launches on the New York Stock Exchange, it had been unclear how much interest the new offerings would attract. On the first day of BITO, trading exceeded even the most optimistic expectations as the new ETF delivered a record-breaking volume. Meanwhile, the price of BTF has fallen slightly during the first day.Excited as the crypto crowd is, the question remains: Why is this happening now?