Cathie Wood: Spot Bitcoin ETF Application Is Progressing

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood told CNBC that ARK Invest’s partner 21Shares was working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the firm’s application to launch a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Cathie Wood said that the SEC changed its behavior towards Ark Invest’s spot Bitcoin ETF application during their communications. The regulators asked questions, and Ark Invest and 21Shares responded with information.

“They actually are asking questions and we provided five pages along with our partner of answers to those questions. So progress we would say,” said Wood.

More Bitcoin ETFs Are Coming

In response to the interview question about whether Bitcoin spot ETF is actually appealing, ARK Invest’s founder acknowledged that while many people are interested in her price target for Bitcoin and want to understand her research, “there’s definitely a focus on whether this is a new asset class” that they should investigate.

She suggested that the SEC’s approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF would be a major catalyst for institutional investment in Bitcoin. Wood said that “institutions, especially, when they see the SEC seal of approval this way, I think this will finally bring institutional interest into Bitcoin.”

Earlier this month, the SEC approved nine Ethereum futures ETFs from Valkyrie Investments, VanEck Funds, Proshares, Bitwise Asset Management, ProShares, Bitwise, Valkyrie, Volatility Shares, and Kelly Strategic Management. However, the new futures products debuted with less than $2 million worth of trading volume.

Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart suggested that investors might be more interested in crypto spot products. A Bitcoin spot ETF would make it easier for institutional investors to invest in Bitcoin, and thus bring more liquidity to the Bitcoin market.

The SEC’s deadline to make a final decision on the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin spot ETF application is January 10, 2024. Decisions on other filings will be due about three months later.

The SEC recently missed the deadline to appeal a court ruling in favor of Grayscale, so it must now review Grayscale’s proposal to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a Bitcoin spot ETF.

Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF Resubmission

On Tuesday, Fidelity Inve­stments refiled its application with the SEC for its Bitcoin spot product “Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust.” With the new updates, Fidelity wanted to address the concerns previously voiced by the regulator, which led to the rejection of the earlier update for the Bitcoin ETF.

The Boston-based financial corporation initially filed for the Bitcoin spot fund in 2021.

However, its application was rejected by the SEC in January 2022. The securities agency has rejected many applications for spot bitcoin ETFs in recent years, citing concerns about market manipulation and the lack of a surveillance-sharing agreement.

In June 2023, BlackRock’s filing encouraged Fidelity and other institutions, including Invesco, WisdomTree, Valkyrie, and Bitwise to re-apply. BlackRock’s groundbreaking move was also one of the reasons behind Bitcoin’s surge to $30,000, its one-year high.

Wall Street’s bullish sentiment suggests that a Bitcoin spot ETF is likely to be approved in the near future. If this happens, it is expected to have a positive impact on the price of Bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market.

BlackRock’s name was recently associated with fake news about the approval of its Bitcoin spot ETF, which raised concerns about market manipulation. On Monday, news that BlackRock’s ETF had been approved spread across social media, but the news source later deleted the statement and apologized, saying it was a publishing mistake.

Despite the false information, Bitcoin briefly hit $29,000, demonstrating the public’s interest in the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF. Many believe that the fake news could have been used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin.