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As 2023 comes to a close, Wall Street is confident that the approval of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund is on the horizon as several financial firms have filed their updated plans for the ETF with the SEC. The filings were necessary before the end of the year if the Bitcoin ETF is to be launched soon. Some big-ticket names that are on this list include BlackRock, Invesco, Fidelity and Valkyrie Investments. Bitcoin price has surged by a stunning 154% year to date after the cryptocurrency tanked in 2022 due to a shaken-up global economy in the aftermath of high interest rate hikes and soaring inflation fueled by oil prices.
Financial Firms Gear Up To Offer Bitcoin ETF As 2024 Beckons With Welcoming Hands
After the last-minute filings that saw the financial firms share updates to their ETF plan to alleviate some of the SEC’s concerns, sources quoted by Reuters explain that a new Bitcoin ETF could see SEC approval as soon as next week. Whether it launches at the same time as well depends on the financial company that gets the first approval. Naturally, all those who have filed applications with the SEC will hope to be the first to secure approval and cash out on a likely first-mover advantage.
Filings from firms such as Valkyrie also share the details of the ETFs that they will offer. An ETF, short for an exchange traded fund, is a stock market investment vehicle that owns a commodity, shares or other assets. It allows stock market investors to trade in the held assets and includes management fees .
For instance, VanEck’s filing mentions that its fund will only feature one fee. This is a 0.80% Sponsor’s Fee, which is subject to the discretion of the sponsor.
An eighty basis point fee is on the high end of the new Bitcoin ETFs that might soon become available for trading. For instance, Fidelity’s fund has the lowest fee at 39 basis points, and while the 0.59% fee for Invesco’s fund is higher, the firm is willing to waive it off for the first six months of trading.
Overall, 14 fund managers are hoping to launch their Bitcoin products. The world’s premier currency faced a bit of trouble earlier this month when legislation proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) unveiled her latest bill to regulate Bitcoin.
The bill is essentially an extension of the regulations faced by the banking industry to also now include crypto wallet providers and other associated companies. If it is implemented, then it will incentivize banks to verify the source of funds received through cryptocurrency wallets, force wallet companies to introduce know your customer (KYC) requirements and further regulate non-custodial wallets.
Bitcoin was also in the news during the tail end of last week after Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest bought 4.3 million shares of a Bitcoin futures ETF. Ark has also filed for a Bitcoin ETF, and it has worked with the SEC to address the Commission’s concerns of market manipulation and fraud. Others have faced similar hurdles as well, including Fidelity, whose paperwork was insufficiently comprehensive and Grayscale, which had the court at its back to make the SEC allow it to convert its spot Bitcoin trust to an ETF
