BlackRock has just postponed its re-bid for a spot Bitcoin ETF. Industry insiders are speculating on the delay, which has prompted a closer look at the likely causes of this unexpected action.
Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, proposed three explanations for BlackRock’s reluctance. First, he proposed that the company could have already refiled, but that the lack of a public acknowledgement might be due to a lag in updating the Nasdaq website.
The second hypothesis is on the addition of additional surveillance-sharing agreement (SSA) information, which Balchunas thought was the most fascinating. Other companies just changed “Crypto Exchange” to “Coinbase” in their refiles, but the Wall Street Journal’s story suggested that the SEC staff was seeking “clarity and comprehensiveness.” This suggests that the regulator needs more information, which may account for BlackRock’s delay in providing the required openness.
The amazing performance of ARK Invest, which first applied for a Bitcoin ETF in April and has subsequently advanced, is the focus of the third theory. Despite this, Balchunas said that BlackRock had likely expected the competition and was unlikely to have lost interest as a result of ARK Invest’s performance.
Whatever the reason for the delay, a shakeout in the cryptocurrency market has resulted from the SEC’s recent communications with exchanges over imprecise and inadequately comprehensive bids for spot Bitcoin ETFs. Others have resubmitted their bids, citing Coinbase as their exchange SSA partner, including Fidelity, Invesco, VanEck, and WisdomTree.
