Bitcoin ETF Hopefuls Amend Filings as Deadline Nears

As the deadline for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to approve or deny the novel spot bitcoin ETF approaches, prospective issuers are filing final amendments to their regulatory filings after multiple editing rounds.

The agency told issuers, based on confidential sources, that Friday, Dec. 29 was the last day to amend their spot bitcoin S-1 applications for ETFs, according to Reuters. BlackRock, Invesco, Ark, Grayscale, and others filed amendments Friday, with Fidelity and WisdomTree naming Jane Street as the fund’s broker dealer and Invesco naming JPMorgan and Virtu as their authorized participants. 

Issuers that filed new ETF amendments Dec. 29 will likely be included in the first round of launches, which could carry huge first-mover advantages for the novel product.

While various issuers have vied to roll out a spot bitcoin ETF for a decade, the SEC only recently began to seriously work with firms to advance filings toward approval. This began after Grayscale won a watershed lawsuit against the SEC in late August, with a U.S. appeals court ruling that the regulator was wrong to block the company’s conversion of their Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF.

This left the SEC’s hands tied and opened the door for the debut of ETFs that track physically backed bitcoin.

Spot Bitcoin ETF Race 

As crypto specialist issuers such as Bitwise Asset Management and powerful Wall Street players including BlackRock work to woo crypto investors, an unprecedented ETF marketing war has kicked off.

Bitwise broke out of the gate first, releasing their “Most Interesting Man” spinoff commercial earlier this month. Hashdex and VanEck have also both released TV ads.

“It's a marketing game from there, although some people would call it a war,” Cathie Wood, who tops ARK, told etf.com in November.

Fees will also inform the competition. Invesco said in their filing that they will waive the fund’s fee for the first six months and $5 billion in assets. Fidelity currently has listed the lowest fee, 0.39%, yet not all issuers have included fees in their filings.

Contact Lucy Brewster at [email protected].