Two spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) applicants, BlackRock and Valkyrie, have named two Authorized Participants (AP) for their yet-to-be-approved ETF, filings show.
BlackRock was the first applicant to announce who would acquire the Bitcoin on behalf of BlackRock, which is not legally permitted to acquire the cryptocurrency itself. The asset manager has teamed up with JP Morgan and quantitative trading firm Jane Street, a filing shows. Valkyrie also named Jane Street as an AP alongside Cantor Fitzgerald, another filing shows. Many ETF issuers will likely have multiple authorized participants.
Both applicants filed an updated Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday – the last day applicants can do so – and were the only ones to do so so far. However, applicants are not required to identify their authorized participants in their S-1 filing.
Some industry experts were surprised that JP Morgan was named in BlackRock's filing, given CEO Jamie Dimon's strongly negative stance on Bitcoin and the crypto sector in general. Just earlier this month, Dimon said that he would ban cryptocurrencies if he were the government and that he “deeply opposes” the asset class.
The SEC is expected to make a decision on whether or not to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF between January 5th and 10th.