At least two investment firms have filed new applications for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), after investment colossus BlackRock filed a related application for its own spot bitcoin ETF on June 15th.
New York-based asset management fund WisdomTree is the latest investment firm to file a new application for a spot bitcoin ETF. According to a June 21st filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), WisdomTree asked SEC to allow it to list its “WisdomTree Bitcoin Belief” on the Cboe BZX exchange under the ticker “BTCW.”
WisdomTree has applied for a spot in Bitcoin ETF on two previous occasions. Its first application was rejected by the SEC in December 2021. Its second application was rejected again in October 2022, with the financial regulator citing similar fraud and market manipulation concerns. At the time of this publication, WisdomTree oversees approximately $83 billion in assets.
One of the key differences in BlackRock’s recent SEC filing is that it intends to enter into a “shared oversight agreement” with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures markets.
BlackRock’s proposal cites the SEC’s approval of a bitcoin futures fund of investment advisory firm Teucrium. That ruling noted that CME “comprehensively monitors futures market conditions and price movements on a genuine time and continuous basis in order to detect and prevent price distortions, including price distortions caused by manipulative efforts.”
This has also been echoed in WisdomTree’s filing, which states that it is willing to enter into such a surveillance agreement with “an operator of a US-based bitcoin spot buying and selling platform.”
Less than four hours after WisdomTree filed its application, global investment manager Invesco “reactivated” its application for a comparable product. And now Invesco has reactivated its 19b-4 for its spot ETF.
According to the 19b-4 filing – which informs the SEC of a proposed rule change – Invesco asked the financial regulator to allow its “Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF” product to be listed on the Cboe BZX exchange.
The filing indicates that a spot bitcoin ETF that uses “professional custodians and other service providers” eliminates the need for investors to rely on “under-regulated offshore vehicles” in turn, allowing investors to more easily “protect their core bitcoin investments.”
While the SEC has yet to approve a single spot bitcoin ETF product, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that “BlackRock breathed new life into the race” in response to his own tweet regarding WisdomTree’s filing.
In addition, Balchunas said crypto investors might have good reason to be optimistic about BlackRock’s move, sharing that the investment firm has a “575-1” record in getting ETFs approved by the regulator.
In addition to recent activity from WisdomTree and Invesco, rumors have begun to swirl that multibillion-dollar fund manager Fidelity Investments may also be looking to capitalize on the new bitcoin spot ETF frenzy.
In line with a June 19th tweet from Arch Community co-founder AP_Abacus, Fidelity Investments, which manages some $4.9 trillion in assets, may apply for its own spot bitcoin ETF. Alternatively, Abacus notes that the investment firm could bid on Grasyscale’s GBTC ETF product.
By Marina Meza
