Fidelity Investments resubmitted its application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) fund called Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust on June 29.
The Securities Exchange Commission rejected Fidelity's initial proposal in 2021 along with other Spot Bitcoin ETF submissions in January 2022. So far, the institution that submitted the spot Bitcoin ETF application has not received approval. Bitwise, WisdomTree, Ark Invest, 21Shares, Invesco, Valkyrie, and VanEck also submitted applications.
However, BlackRock's Spot Bitcoin ETF seems to have sparked a wave of institutional interest. Fidelity is the latest company to join a series of such re-filings that began with BlackRock's own filing in early June. As of June 29, nine-spot Bitcoin ETFs have been filed with the SEC.
Over the past two years, all but BlackRock's filings have been denied by the SEC. BlackRock itself has a long history of ETF approvals, with 575 ETFs approved and only one disapproved so far, so the market is optimistic that this application will also be approved. giving a point of view.
The SEC argued that products directly exposed to Bitcoin are not safe for investors due to insufficient safeguards to prevent market manipulation. However, according to Evolve ETF chief investment officer Elliott Johnson, the main differentiator in BlackRock's filing is a surveillance agreement that allows the Nasdaq to monitor its trading activity. Johnson argued that this level of surveillance could effectively prevent such manipulation.
The court questioned the regulator's logic in the Grayscale v. SEC case, arguing that the logic in allowing ETFs based on Bitcoin futures was flawed. However, as the lawsuit is ongoing, it is unclear whether it will affect current attitudes toward spot ETFs.
