Spot Bitcoin ETF: Financial Behemoths Continue to Shake the SEC

The moment of truth is approaching. Will the SEC soon approve Spot Bitcoin ETF applications? Or will it go as far as to postpone its decision? Recently, issuers of similar requests have been increasing meetings with officials from this U.S. financial regulatory body. Gary Gensler and his team must be under pressure.

Bitcoin ETF: BlackRock and others in talks with the SEC

Of all the asset managers interested in Spot Bitcoin ETFs, BlackRock seems to be the most active. Of course, Grayscale, which has already won a lawsuit against the SEC, has opted for physical meetings with Gensler’s team, but BlackRock is not letting up.

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said that all four ETF issuers have met with the SEC in the past few days regarding spot Bitcoin ETF applications, with BlackRock meeting with the SEC for the third time in as many weeks. And Grayscale, Franklin and Fidelity all met with the SEC…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 13, 2023

In James Seyffart’s tweet, we learned that BlackRock had visited the SEC’s offices yesterday. All in all, three highly significant meetings with their American market regulators since filing.

For James Seyffart, there is “nothing revolutionary to report”. Thus, we cannot expect an express green light from the SEC after yesterday’s meeting.

Regarding the players, the finance expert at Bloomberg provided some equally interesting details.

Nothing groundbreaking to report but 4 different issuers have met with the SEC regarding their #Bitcoin ETF filings in last few days. @BlackRock met with them yesterday for the third time in as many weeks. While @Grayscale, Franklin, and @Fidelity each had meetings last week pic.twitter.com/5gwBk83m0o

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) December 12, 2023

“As you can see from the screenshots — both the Division of Trading & Markets AND the Division of Corporate Finance were present at each of these meetings. Those are the two divisions that will ultimately decide if & when the 19b-4’s & S-1’s would be approved or denied.”

As for the deadline for these spot BTC ETFs, Seyffart clarified that BlackRock’s is set for March 15, 2024. Whereas on social media, the date of January 10th is repeatedly mentioned.

A highly anticipated “YES”

Opinions are divided regarding the SEC’s final decision on these bitcoin spot trackers. On one hand, there are skeptics like Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo (a cryptocurrency custody firm), who argue that the SEC will reject these applications.

On the other hand, there are optimists who are betting on a YES for all the pending applications, cites CoinGape. Thus, the applicants will not be victims of partiality on the part of the SEC.

It should also be noted that an approval before January 10th would give Grayscale, BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton some room to maneuver, as they will surely list and trade their spot ETFs.

And to conclude, many expect the price of BTC to rise if these Exchange Traded Funds are approved. An analysis by Glassnode was able to quantify the influx of money into the market on this occasion: 70 billion dollars.