Will the SEC allow Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF? Market thinks so

In 2013, when Bitcoin had been trading for a few years only and the price was already around $1,000, the Winklevoss twins (with the money they got from their deal with Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg) applied for a Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) with the SEC. In that way, it would be much easier for ordinary Wall Street investors to buy Bitcoin.

After all, these investors wouldn’t have to sign onto a crypto platform and could simply buy it through their regular broker. You could in this manner have a portfolio with Apple shares, Facebook shares (now Meta) and a Bitcoin share (in this case an ETF). The SEC, of course, famously declined.

Ark Investment

Ever since then, the SEC has denied virtually every application for a Bitcoin ETF, as an acceptance would make it very difficult for the United States to ever completely ban crypto since with a Bitcoin ETF you would likely have a lot of wealthy investors investing in Bitcoin.

But according to the market, all that is about to change thanks to Blackrock.

Ark Investment, the mutual fund of top analyst Cathie Wood, also has an application for a Bitcoin ETF pending, and the SEC is due to make a decision before August 13. The application by Blackrock, the largest investment fund in the world, is due an answer by early September.

JUST IN - Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest amended their spot #Bitcoin ETF application to be like BlackRock’s filing. pic.twitter.com/sZ7n8xfo6Q

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 28, 2023

The optimism about Blackrock’s ETF filing comes from their formidable history of filings with the SEC. Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, calculated that Blackrock filed 576 applications with the SEC, and only one of those was ever denied. As a result, Wall Street has raised the possibility of the SEC approving a Bitcoin ETF by the fall…  to more than 50%.

BlackRock shocked Wall Street with bitcoin.pic.twitter.com/gMZJSWE8Qn

— Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) June 28, 2023

Bryan Armor, analyst at Morningstar, said:

BlackRock’s 575-to-1 record is the only reason why we would expect it to be approved. There is a reputational risk that comes with the filing. You feel that they wouldn’t do this if there wasn’t a reason.

A Bitcoin ETF in the fall of 2023 and counting down to the next halving in 2024. All this can only be interpreted as bullish signs of course.