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BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Plan Appears To Be A Case Of Perception Bending Reality
Mitchell Martin
Forbes Staff
Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, Metaverse, NFTs, and a little investing
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Jun 15, 2023,09:01pm EDT
Bitcoin ETF
BlackRock rolls the dice on a bitcoin ETFGETTY
BlackRock’sBLK +2.7% request to register a spot-market bitcoin ETF looks as much like a self-fulfilling strategy as an attempt to gain approval for an investment format that has repeatedly been rejected by U.S. regulators.

The world’s largest money manager, with $9.1 trillion of assets under management at the end of Q1, submitted a preliminary prospectus for the iShares BitcoinBTC 0.0% Trust, late on Thursday afternoon New York time. The exchange-traded fund (ETF) is meant to own bitcoins that are to be held in custody by Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has insisted that spot bitcoin is not safe enough to be offered to retail investors, although funds based on bitcoin futures are allowed. In denying a request for VanEck to offer a bitcoin ETF in March, the agency said the Cboe division that applied to list the fund had not met requirements that it be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” and “to protect investors and the public interest” because the underlying spot bitcoin market is too opaque.

The SEC’s consistent opposition to spot bitcoin ETFs raises the question of why BlackRock would go through the bother of filing a prospectus for a fund that was bound to be denied. The answer may be that its name, size and traditional finance background would go a long way toward overcoming the agency’s opposition to an inevitable development.