BlackRock (BLK), the renowned fund management behemoth, made a significant move on Thursday by submitting documentation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF through its iShares unit.
The forthcoming investment vehicle, named the iShares Bitcoin Trust, will primarily hold bitcoin through a custodian appointed by the Trust, as stated in the filing. The filing disclosed that Coinbase (COIN), a leading cryptocurrency exchange, will serve as the custodian.
While the SEC has rejected previous attempts by fund management firms such as Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree to launch spot bitcoin ETFs, BlackRock’s prominence may present a tougher challenge. Blackrock with $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM), BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management firm. Furthermore, the political clout of BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink potentially matches that of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
Commenting on the filing, Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, a subsidiary of crypto exchange Kraken, stated that the proposed ETF will be benchmarked against the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. Chung further emphasized that CF Benchmarks strictly obtains price data solely from cryptocurrency exchanges that uphold the highest levels of market integrity and transparency. This meticulous approach safeguards investors, ensuring that products benchmarked against it can consistently and reliably track the spot price of the underlying asset.
The filing comes at a time when the crypto industry is grappling with intensified regulatory scrutiny in the United States with recent lawsuits filed by the SEC against major crypto exchanges coinbase and binance. However, the market sentiment experienced a mild boost following the ETF application filed by a traditional finance (TradFi) giant, as the price of bitcoin witnessed a modest increase, reaching nearly $25,600.
Sui Chung commented, stating, “The growing involvement of BlackRock indicates that Bitcoin continues to pique the interest of major financial institutions worldwide.
