The iShares unit of fund management giant BlackRock (BLK) filed filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday afternoon to establish a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF.
To earn the iShares Bitcoin Trust name, the fund’s assets are said to “consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the trust,” according to the filing. That custodian will be crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), the filing said.
Although the SEC has approved a number of futures-based Bitcoin ETFs, it has notably denied other fund management firm attempts to open a spot Bitcoin ETF, including those by Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree.
However, it may not be that easy for the SEC to turn its back on BlackRock. It is the world’s largest wealth manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM), and the company and its CEO Larry Fink wield political power that potentially rivals that of the SEC and its leader, Gary Gensler.
“The proposed ETF is based on the CME CF Bitcoin reference rate,” crypto exchange Kraken commented on the submission. “CF Benchmarks sources price data only from cryptocurrency exchanges that adhere to the highest possible standards of market integrity and transparency. This protects investors as products measured by this can then consistently and reliably track the spot price of the underlying asset.”
Bitcoin price is slightly higher on the news, rising about 1% to just under $25,700.
Updated (22:20 UTC, 15 June 2023): Adds additional context and commentary from Kraken.