On June 15th, global asset management giant BlackRock submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The product is primarily aimed at institutional investors and will be custodied by Coinbase Custody.
Source：Bitcoin.com
After the news spread, it triggered a media frenzy and comments from numerous industry professionals.
In fact, the application for a BTC spot ETF is not a new thing, as many financial institutions such as Grayscale, WisdomTree, and Invesco have already applied for this product before.
So why did this event attract people's attention? And what does it mean for ordinary investors?
As the world's largest asset management company, BlackRock manages assets of nearly $10 trillion, while the entire cryptocurrency market is only around $1 trillion. Once BlackRock successfully enters the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin will gain tremendous liquidity.
In addition, it will attract more traditional investment institutions to enter, and the entire cryptocurrency market will benefit.
However, will BlackRock's application be approved? There is a lot of controversy surrounding this, with both positive and negative opinions, and various reasons cited.
Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas believes that the Bitcoin spot ETF will be approved by the end of this year (2023).
From a historical perspective, analysts have analyzed that the SEC has approved over 500 ETFs launched by BlackRock, with only one rejection in 2014, resulting in an approval rate of nearly 100%.
There is a view that, unlike Grayscale, BlackRock has introduced a redemption mechanism that resolves regulatory sharing agreement issues and ensures that the custodian and trustee of client funds operate independently. All of these are in line with SEC requirements.
People who hold a negative view believe that the SEC has rejected BTC spot ETFs numerous times without exception, and this time will be no different.
There is another attitude that is ambiguous, such as Gregory Johnson, CEO of Rubicon Crypto. He expresses a cautious attitude towards the possibility of BlackRock obtaining approval for its ETF in the near future.
Mitrade analyst: Regardless of their positive or negative attitude, people hope that the SEC will approve BlackRock's proposed BTC spot ETF, which could bring cryptocurrencies out of the bear market.
However, the market cannot control whether it is passed or not, and it can only be decided by the SEC.
For ordinary investors, the most important thing is to seize the current market situation. As long as the result is not announced, institutional bullish sentiment will not easily disappear, and this is a relatively good opportunity.
