Fidelity Refiles Bitcoin ETF Application With SEC as BlackRock Renews Hope

Boston-based investment giant Fidelity today refiled an application for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund.

In a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the asset manager said its Wise Bitcoin Trust, a spot Bitcoin ETF, would help American investors avoid risk.

“To this point, the lack of a Spot Bitcoin ETP exposes U.S. investor assets to significant risk because investors that would otherwise seek crypto asset exposure through a Spot Bitcoin ETP are forced to find alternative exposure through generally riskier means,” Thursday’s filing said, adding that investors have previously kept their assets on now collapsed crypto exchange’s, such as FTX.

The filing comes after the world’s biggest asset manager BlackRock filed to the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF earlier this month. Invesco, Wisdom Tree, Valkyrie, and Bitwise have also sent similar applications.

An ETF is an investment vehicle that tracks the value of an underlying asset, like gold, foreign currencies, or Bitcoin.

A spot Bitcoin ETF doesn’t yet exist in the States; many investment firms have applied for one only to face rejection from Wall Street’s top regulator.

Fidelity first applied for a Bitcoin ETF but was rejected in 2021.

Investors are hungry for such an ETF, experts say, because it would allow them to get involved with Bitcoin without having to deal with complicated things like custody of the asset.

The SEC did last week approve the first first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF. Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) launched on the Chicago Board Options (CBOE) BZX Exchange on Tuesday.

Fidelity has long been involved in the crypto space: last year it the firm, which is also America’s largest provider of 401(k) savings accounts, announced the launch a product that allows workers to save 20% of retirement funds in Bitcoin.

And last year the firm also launched two ETFs giving clients exposure to companies in the crypto and metaverse space.

The news that major Wall Street firms are trying to get traditional investors access to Bitcoin has spurred a crypto rally.

Bitcoin at the time of writing was trading for $30,498, up 1.9% in the past week. Bitcoin at the start of the year was trading for less than $17,000 per coin.

But the world’s oldest and biggest digital asset is still well below its November 2021 all-time high of $69,044.