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- BlackRock anticipates being granted the US’s inaugural Bitcoin spot ETF on Wednesday
- The approval would come ten and a half years after the first-ever application by the Winklevoss twins
- Critics warn that awarding the Bitcoin ETF would constitute a regulatory catastrophe
Investment giant Blackrock believes that it will be awarded the US’s first Bitcoin spot ETF on Wednesday, ten and a half years after the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust tried for the very first time. A report Saturday by Fox Business claimed that Blackrock is “expecting approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for its new Bitcoin “spot” ETF”, although the excitement is tempered by the news that the company could be cutting as many as 600 jobs. The excitement over a potential Bitcoin ETF has got critics excited too, with one outfit proclaiming that the award would be “a regulatory mistake of historic proportions.”
Blackrock Waiting for Green Light
Blackrock is one of a clutch of investment firms that recently submitted updated 19b-4 filings for proposed spot bitcoin ETFs following discussions with the SEC, with ever more positive noises coming out of the firms in question over the chances of approval. A 10-day approval window is currently open, and Fox Business understands that Blackrock is expecting it, and possibly others, to be awarded a Bitcoin ETF on Wednesday.
An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a type of investment fund that holds assets like stocks, bonds, or commodities and typically tracks an underlying index. A spot Bitcoin ETF, in particular, would allow investors to buy and sell bitcoin directly through the fund on traditional stock exchanges, offering a regulated and accessible way to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market.
The Winklevoss twins were the first to file for a Bitcoin ETF way back in July 2013 through the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, but this and every application since (including more from the Winklevii) have been rejected.
Doubters Attempt Last Ditch Campaign
While the crypto community eagerly anticipates the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, not everyone is quite as hyped. In a letter to the SEC last week, non-partisan nonprofit Better Markets, which lobbies for increased financial regulation, warned against approving a Bitcoin ETF, calling it a “regulatory mistake of historic proportions.”
Better Markets cited Bitcoin’s volatility and lack of regulation as reasons why it would not offer a healthy market, but these are factors that the SEC is all too aware of, and yet it seems to feel that these concerns will be addressed by the exchanges offering to support the ETF, like Cboe BZX.
