Bitcoin (BTC) price rose to $35,000 as significant developments began to emerge. Grayscale’s victory in the lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the SEC’s decision not to appeal this decision increased interest in Bitcoin ETFs.
SEC Changes Course
JPMorgan and Bloomberg Intelligence indicated that the Bitcoin ETF approval could happen by the end of January 2024. Additionally, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler confirmed that they were working on 8 to 10 different ETF proposals and had discussions with the companies behind them.
This change of pace was also endorsed by investors Cathie Woods and Mike Novogratz. The duo reported being in a more constructive dialogue with the regulator after the Grayscale case.
This indicated that a series of ETF proposals would either be accepted or rejected. However, an ETF suddenly appeared in a company associated with an exchange, which was pointed out by a Bloomberg analyst as a significant milestone in government approval.
iShares Listed
Bloomberg’s Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas noted that Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was listed on the DTCC (Depository Trust And Clearing Corporation) website with the iBTC code.
DTCC is a company that works closely with governments worldwide and clears NASDAQ transactions. While this listing is not a guarantee of approval by U.S. regulators, it shows that Blackrock is quite confident about the future of the fund they proposed.
CUSIP is an identification number assigned to stocks, debts, and other securities in the U.S. and Canada and is used to distinguish securities from each other. Financial lawyer Scott Johnson also noticed a change that shows the Bitcoin ETF CUSIP code for Blackrock and that Blackrock began to provide initial capital for its investment fund.
While Balchunas acknowledged Johnson’s notable point, he warned readers not to immediately attribute too much significance to it.
“BlackRock (are) stating in their recent spot Bitcoin ETF amendment that they are seeding the ETF in October. Don’t want to read that much into it, but it is new info not in the original filing, so noteworthy (especially considering it’s BlackRock).”
If Blackrock’s ETF is approved in the coming weeks, the SEC will likely make a decision about what will happen to the other ETFs around the same timeframe.
