According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the highly-anticipated launch of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States could occur right before Labor Day (September 4).
The entity said that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to respond to several applications from BlackRock, Bitwise, WisdomTree, VanEck, and Invesco in the following days. The agency has the option to approve, reject, or delay the filings.
More Clarity Before the Week’s End
Bloomberg Intelligence informed that Bitwise’s application will be the first that the SEC will take into consideration, with an announcement expected on Friday (September 1). A decision on the other four filings, presented by BlackRock, Invesco, WisdomTree, and VanEck, is due on Saturday (September 2).
The SEC’s stance has so far been quite discouraging for companies willing to introduce such a financial product in America. It rejected Grayscale’s ambitions to convert its Bitcoin trust to an ETF last year and delayed its decision on the joint effort of ARK Investment Management and 21Shares, which filed to launch a spot BTC ETF.
One person who is pessimistic that the watchdog will approve the long-anticipated product this week is Roxanna Islam – associate director of research and head of sector and industry research at VettaFi:
“We can expect to see more delays from the SEC, especially after they already delayed their decision earlier this month on ARK’s spot-Bitcoin ETF filing. We need to see a decision from the SEC on Grayscale’s lawsuit first — otherwise, we might see them approve Ether-futures ETF filings before they approve any spot-Bitcoin ETF filings.”
While seeing a green light from the Commission on such a product seemed like a mirage in the past few years, the odds appeared to have changed when BlackRock hopped on the bandwagon.
The involvement of the finance behemoth, which saw just one out of its 576 ETFs rejected by the SEC in the past, infused optimism in the crypto space, prompting many to believe that a spot BTC ETF will finally see the light of day in the world’s biggest economy.
Why BlackRock’s Application Could Be Successful?
There are many other reasons why the filing of BlackRock could receive the SEC’s nod (apart from its outstanding record with the agency). The popular X (Twitter) user going by the name “Seth” posted some essential points that could play a role.
First, they reminded that the US government and the Federal Reserve place high trust in BlackRock, asking the asset manager to draw a rescue plan during the Financial crisis in 2008.
Another factor is the change of heart coming from the company’s CEO – Larry Fink, who called Bitcoin an “index of money laundering” in 2017 but most recently aligned his stance with those who support the asset.
Seth noted that BlackRock already has experience in the field, previously launching a BTC private ETF for institutional investors.
The fact that a spot BTC ETF exists in other regions such as Canada and Europe and the following spree of applications coming from other asset managers, including Vanguard and Fidelity, are also factors worth observing, the X user concluded.
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