Important crypto news: Valkyrie recently filed an application for a Bitcoin ETF, including the Coinbase exchange as a counterparty in the deal. See below for all the details.
Summary
Valkyrie Includes Coinbase for a spot Bitcoin ETF
As anticipated, cryptocurrency manager Valkyrie recently submitted an application for a Bitcoin ETF and included Coinbase as a counterparty in the Surveillance Sharing Agreement (SSA).
In addition, in order to comply with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) standards, the company included the SSA after receiving similar deposits.
It is worth noting that the increase in deposits for the Bitcoin ETF has been remarkable since the first deposit was made last month by BlackRock.
Later, Fidelity, another major player in asset management, also filed for the same reason. Both used Coinbase in their SSA submissions, specifically to counter the SEC‘s initial responses to the filings.
Specifically, the decision was made to address concerns expressed by the SEC about possible market manipulation of the offering. Hence, it is hoped that the inclusion of Coinbase will help address these concerns.
Valkyrie has again filed a Form 19b-4, following BlackRock’s example. Indeed, Eric Balchunas noted that Valkyrie’s inclusion of the SSA agreement seems more aggressive in its wording.
In addition, they recognized Coinbase as the largest exchange for spot Bitcoin. Valkyrie is one among several names that has tried to enter the Bitcoin ETF market.Â
However, the introduction of the product will depend on the final decisions of the SEC.
As we know, the regulatory agency currently has yet to approve the creation of a spot Bitcoin ETF. Only time will tell whether this will change as more applications are submitted in recent weeks.
The SEC finds the Bitcoin ETF applications submitted so far to be inadequate
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared that recent filings for spot Bitcoin ETFs are considered inadequate. Specifically, some are precisely those among the several high-profile submissions mentioned above.
In fact, these announcements came after major asset management firms, such as BlackRock and Fidelity, filed applications to launch their own exchange-traded funds based on spot Bitcoin.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC released its comments on these documents to the Nasdaq and Cboe. We see that the report highlights the fact that the agency found the documents unclear and incomplete.
These recent developments have not been limited to the two companies mentioned, as there have been numerous applications for Bitcoin ETFs from other companies such as Ark Investment Management, Invesco, WisdomTree, and many others that have entered the competition.
The approval of an ETF that tracks the price of Bitcoin could be a decisive step for the digital asset sector, as it would create more opportunities for investors to enter the market.
However, it appears that the SEC continues to reject such requests. In fact, since 2017, the agency has consistently rejected similar requests, usually pointing to the potential risk of market manipulation and fraud as the reason behind its decisions.
However, we note that this news seems to contradict recent analysis suggesting that BlackRock may have a 50% chance of getting SEC approval.
