Today, all 11 spot ETF applicants, including BlackRock and Fidelity, submitted their final revised 19b-4 documents before Friday. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas revealed earlier that the SEC is seeking to prepare all applicants for the listing of Bitcoin spot ETF on January 11th, and the approval process for the current Bitcoin spot ETF is “basically completed”.
BlackRock’s spot ETF may see over 2 billion pounds of capital inflow in the first week. With the critical window period for the approval of the first Bitcoin spot ETF by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approaching from January 8th to January 10th, multiple sources indicate that the SEC seems ready to approve the first BTC spot ETF next week.
According to four informed sources, SEC staff have notified several exchanges and issuers applying for spot ETF listings to submit their final revised 19b-4 documents before the end of the day on Friday. The 19b-4 form is an application for changes to the rules of the securities exchange, and is one of the two key documents for the formal listing of ETFs.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated that all 11 spot ETF issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark, Valkyrie, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, Invesco, WisdomTree, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck, have submitted revised 19b-4 documents before Friday.
Seyffart commented, “Although we haven’t crossed the finish line, we are very close.”
Two sources mentioned that SEC staff did not provide additional feedback on these latest revised 19b-4 documents. Another source revealed that it is expected that the SEC commissioners will vote on the filing of all 19b-4 transaction rules next week. Normally, the approval of an ETF does not require a commissioner’s vote and can be delegated directly to SEC staff.
It should be noted that for a Bitcoin spot ETF to be officially listed, in addition to SEC approval of the 19b-4 document, another key document, the final version of the S-1 prospectus, also needs to be approved.
One of the sources stated that the SEC has required issuers to submit a revised version of the S-1 document by 8 am on Monday. Usually, the S-1 form is approved after the 19b-4 form, but it is not ruled out that the SEC may approve both the 19b-4 and S-1 forms simultaneously. If both documents are approved, the spot ETF can start trading as early as the next business day.
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas also tweeted earlier that the SEC is seeking to prepare all applicants for the listing of the Bitcoin spot ETF on January 11th.
From the current information available, there is a high probability that the SEC will approve the first Bitcoin spot ETF before January 10th, but it is unclear whether the SEC will approve all or choose to approve only a portion, giving some issuers a first-mover advantage.
Tim Copeland, editor at The Block, tweeted earlier that Matthew Sigel, Director of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, revealed in today’s Twitter Space that he was informed by a source that BlackRock has raised $2 billion from existing Bitcoin holders, and these funds will flow into BlackRock’s spot ETF in its first week of listing. Sigel stated:
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