The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved BlackRock’s proposal to list and trade options on its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The SEC said it was giving the world’s largest asset manager approval to list the option on iShares on an “accelerated basis.” Bitcoin Bitcoin
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Trust (ticker IBIT) The filing, published Friday, states that Nasdaq ISE, LLC will list and trade the options.
The SEC stated, “The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from interested parties on Amendments 4 and 5 and to expedite approval of the proposed rule changes as modified by Amendments 1, 4, and 5.”
The SEC approved several spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, including those from BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity. Other companies, including Grayscale and Bitwise, are also looking to list and trade options on their spot Bitcoin ETFs.
BlackRock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“More than eight months after the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF… options trading is now approved,” ETF Store President Nate Geraci wrote in a post to X. “It’s late, but it’s never too late.”
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s chief ETF analyst, said he expects others to receive SEC approval as well.
“I suspect others will be approved soon,” Balchunas wrote on X. “A huge win for Bitcoin ETFs (it will attract more liquidity and thus bigger fish).”
Earlier this week, SEC officials noted that ETFs are being “misused.” The SEC often uses the term Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) when talking about these products.
“What we’re talking about as spot bitcoin ETPs are exchange-traded products,” Natasha Vizgreiner, director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, said Tuesday at the Financial Markets Quality Conference at Georgetown University.
“The fact is, this product is not operated under the ’40 Act, it’s not a ’40 product, so it doesn’t have the same considerations around custody or protection that we’re concerned with,” Greiner added.
UPDATE: Full details as of September 20th at 9:55 PM UTC.
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