Bitcoin ETF Issuers Meet with SEC, Approval Chances Increase
Recently, several prominent Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers have had meetings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that approval chances for their products are on the rise. Bloomberg’s ETF analyst James Seyffart reported that four issuers have met with the SEC regarding their Bitcoin product filings in the past few days.
Bitcoin ETF Momentum Building
BlackRock, Grayscale, Franklin, and Fidelity all had meetings with the SEC recently. BlackRock has revised its spot Bitcoin ETF application to allow large banks to participate more easily. The SEC must make a decision on BlackRock’s application by January 15, with the final deadline set for March 15. The Division of Trading and Markets and the Division of Corporate Finance were present at each of these meetings.
Fellow ETF expert Eric Balchunas noted that the third meeting between BlackRock and the SEC included Rachel Aquirre, head of all US iShares. He questioned why market makers were not invited to these meetings.
Valkyrie’s Spot ETF Race
Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store, spoke to Valkyrie’s Steven McClurg who stated that things were “getting very close” in the spot ETF race. The SEC has no major concerns other than share creation/redemption. Valkyrie products are ready to launch, and the backend ETF infrastructure is in place. The potential approval date could be any time after January 2nd, with analysts eyeing January 10 for batch approvals.
$100 Billion Inflows an Extreme
In addition to BlackRock, Grayscale, Franklin, and Fidelity, other companies like Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, and Hashdex are also in the ETF race. Seyffart commented on the potential impact of $100 billion flowing into BTC after ETF approval, stating that it is likely an overestimation of demand. He compared it to gold ETFs, which have been around since 2004 and currently have about $95 billion in assets.
Hot Take: Bitcoin ETF Approval Could Bring Significant Growth
The recent meetings between Bitcoin ETF issuers and the SEC indicate that the approval chances for these products are increasing. If approved, Bitcoin ETFs could attract significant inflows into the crypto market. However, analysts believe that estimating $100 billion in inflows might be an overestimation and that it would be an extreme outlier success case even if measured over multiple years. The potential approval date for some of these ETFs could be as early as January 10th, leading to further growth in the cryptocurrency industry.