Crypto news: the latest document filed by BlackRock’s iShares with the SEC reveals that their Bitcoin spot ETF has obtained a ticker: IBIT.
Previously it had already obtained the CUSIP code, useful for generating the ISIN code.
In the document presented yesterday to the SEC they write:
“The Shares will be listed and traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “IBIT”. Market prices of the Shares may differ from the NAV.”
Summary
ETF News: the landing on Nasdaq, BlackRock is about to beat the SEC
In other words, it seems like everything is almost ready for the landing on Nasdaq.
The only thing missing is the approval of the SEC, but theoretically this should arrive within twenty days or a little more.
To tell the truth, the iShares Bitcoin spot ETF, which is BlackRock’s subsidiary that deals with ETFs, should not be the first to receive approval.
The first one, for which the maximum deadline by which the SEC must make a decision is January 10, 2024, is that of Ark and 21Shares, but the hypothesis is that the SEC will approve all those requests that meet the requirements to be approved together.
For this reason, BlackRock is doing everything possible to be fully prepared to receive approval as early as January, along with Ark and all the others.
All of this suggests that the shares of iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) will be made tradable on Nasdaq shortly after the final approval from the SEC, possibly as early as the first half of January.
Note that a US court ruling at the end of August effectively requires the SEC not to reject the approval of these requests, if they are correct, and that the same SEC chairman Gary Gensler recently admitted that the ruling forced them to seriously consider the possibility of approving them, after years of refusal.
Furthermore, the agency has also decided not to appeal against that sentence, that is, accepting it in its entirety.
The launch on the markets
But there’s more.
One of the competitors of BlackRock and Ark in this context, namely Bitwise, yesterday published on its X profile an advertisement for its ETF on Bitcoin spot, even before it has been approved.
In reality, there are two commercials, and they do not explicitly advertise their Bitcoin spot ETF, as this is obviously not yet available on the markets.
However, they advertise their ETFs and Bitcoin, so it is quite evident that the implicit purpose is to promote their spot Bitcoin ETF, which is believed to be landing on the markets shortly.
In other words, it seems that everything is almost ready for the immediate launch on the markets of ETFs on Bitcoin spot as soon as they receive approval from the SEC, which now seems almost certain.
Moreover, the Bitwise commercial does not seem to be aimed at large institutional investors, but at wealthy private investors.
It is worth remembering that among BlackRock’s clients there are also many wealthy private investors, and a derivative instrument such as an ETF, available on traditional exchange platforms (such as Nasdaq), also allows them to easily take a position on the price of Bitcoin without any additional complications.
So Bitwise caters to wealthy private investors, while BlackRock caters to both them and large institutional clients.
ETF News: the race for approval and BlackRock’s battle against the SEC
Actually, there are about ten similar requests awaiting approval from the SEC. Practically all of their emissaries and managers are speeding up to try to obtain approval.
For example, it is news from yesterday that WisdomTree has also submitted an updated application to the SEC.
The point is that the SEC has been in dialogue with all applicants for months to ensure that they have all the necessary information to submit updated applications with all the requirements to be approved.
In other words, the SEC has been working for months to put these applicants in a position to have their requests approved, and in such a context it would simply be absurd to imagine that they would end up rejecting them.
In the USA, there is a real race for approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, with all applicants working hard to be ready for the crucial moment in early January.
The impact on Bitcoin
Perhaps it is also because of all this that the correction of the Bitcoin price has stopped.
After being around $44,000 for a few days, the price of Bitcoin on December 11th had dropped below $41,000.
The decline stopped on the same day, but there had been no rebound until the 13th.
On the 13th, it had risen above $43,000, but only to drop back to $41,000 yesterday.
Tonight there was a new bounce, which could determine the end of this small and short correction.
Now the price has returned to $43,000, but it could also try to go back above $44,000. The possibility of trying a new attack on $45,000 cannot even be excluded, since the ones on December 5th and December 8th were really very timid and ineffective.
