The wait for approval for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that trades Bitcoin directly, known as Spot Bitcoin ETF, could end as early as next Wednesday.
According to a report from Fox Business, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and one of the companies vying to bring a spot Bitcoin ETF to the market, expects its application to be approved next Wednesday.
BlackRock is one of several companies that filed updated 19b-4 filings on Friday for a proposed spot Bitcoin ETF, along with Grayscale Investments, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares and Invesco. The Cboe BZX exchange also filed forms with VanEck, WisdomTree, Pando Asset AG and Franklin Templeton last week.
The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is highly anticipated by cryptocurrency supporters who are betting that the fund could bring billions of dollars in new money to the cryptocurrency sector. The surge in the price of Bitcoin in recent months suggests a growing market interest in exchange-traded products that hold Bitcoin, rather than simply speculating on its price through futures contracts.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency skeptics have argued that Bitcoin is too unstable and unregulated to support a healthy market. Better Markets, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that lobbies for stronger financial regulation, said in a letter to the SEC that approving a spot Bitcoin ETF would be a “regulatory mistake of historic proportions.”
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