BlackRock Files for Bitcoin Spot ETF: All You Need to Know
- New York-based asset management firm BlackRock filed for a Bitcoin spot ETF on June 15.
- If approved, the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust would be the first crypto spot ETF to be traded publicly.
- The custodian of the fund’s Bitcoin holdings would be Coinbase Custody Trust Company.
- Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY Mellon, has been named as the custodian for the fiat holdings of the trust.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm based in New York City, has filed for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund, or ETF. The firm has around $8.59 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022, and is known for gradually increasing its crypto exposure.
With its newest filing, it has joined ARK, which is also waiting to hear on its Bitcoin spot ETF application from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If approved, the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust would be the first crypto spot ETF approved by the authorities in the United States.
According to another filing submitted to the SEC by the Nasdaq stock exchange, the custodian of the fund’s Bitcoin holdings would be Coinbase Custody Trust Company, a standalone, independently-capitalized business of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States.
Additionally, an American investment services firm, the Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY Mellon, has been named as the custodian for the fiat holdings of the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust, which would be traded as Commodity-Based Trust Shares. The application was filed on June 15 and noted that the “shares have been designed to remove the obstacles represented by the complexities and operational burdens involved in a direct investment in bitcoin.”
Moreover, the price of the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust would be updated every 15 seconds via the CF Benchmarks Index during regular market hours. The documents stated that the previously approved spot ETFs in the commodities and currency markets “are generally unregulated, and […] the Commission relied on the underlying futures market” as “the basis for approving” trust shares in the past.
In its filing, the asset management firm stated that “the regulated market of significant size test does not require that the spot bitcoin market be regulated in order for the Commission to approve this proposal.”
It is important to mention here that the SEC has yet to approve a single Bitcoin spot ETF, and BlackRock might have to wait a considerable amount of time before its turn comes. As reported earlier by Bitnation, Grayscale, the firm behind the GBTC product, filed for the conversion of GBTC to a Bitcoin spot ETF, but the application was rejected. However, the DCG subsidiary filed a lawsuit against the SEC as a result.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
