Notice Bitcoin selling off at market open? Jane Street is taking the blame, but the data points elsewhere

Bitcoin’s rebound toward $70,000 over the last 24 hours has revived a familiar debate in crypto markets: whether Wall Street firms operating within the spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) ecosystem have gained too much influence over price discovery. The latest target is Jane Street, the quantitative trading firm that is both a major ETF intermediary and the subject of a fresh lawsuit tied to the 2022 collapse of Terraform Labs. Related Reading Wall Street titans quietly amass billions in Bitcoin ETFs and crypto stocks Wells Fargo, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Jane Street lead the charge with billions in Bitcoin-focused ETFs and equities. Aug 15, 2025 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo On social media platforms, traders linked Bitcoin’s recent rally to claims that an alleged pattern of sharp intraday selling around the US market open had suddenly faded after the lawsuit became public. The theory spread quickly because it combines two ideas that already resonate: distrust of large trading firms and unease over how much of Bitcoin’s market now runs through traditional finance. However, the evidence for a coordinated Bitcoin suppression program remains thin. What the episode does show more clearly is that the structure of spot Bitcoin ETFs has made it harder for many investors to tell where genuine spot demand ends and where market-making, hedging, and arbitrage begin. In that sense, the Jane Street controversy extends beyond a single firm. It centers on how Bitcoin’s new institutional infrastructure is shaping price discovery, determining whether markets are becoming more efficient or increa