On Tuesday, Nasdaq and BlackRock had a meeting with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) again to discuss the asset manager’s application for launching a spot Bitcoin ETF.
The meeting was with the Division of Trading and Markets of the SEC. The SEC released a memo regarding the meeting.
The meeting
The memo disclosed that those in attendance included Robert Mitchnick, the Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, and personnel part of the ETF team of the asset manager.
Joseph Cusick, the Chief Regulatory Officer and VP of Nasdaq, Alison Doyle, the Head of ETP Listings, and Giang Bui, the Head of US Equities and Exchange-Traded Products also participated in the meeting.
Eric Juzenas and David Shillman headed the SEC’s team, both of which are part of the Division of Trading and Markets of the regulator as Associate Directors.
According to the memo, the discussion was about the rule change proposed by Nasdaq for listing and trading shares of BlackRock’s ETF.
The rule in question provides guidelines regarding the listing of Commodity-Based Trust Shares, along with the criteria applicable for initial and continued listing as well as requirements for compliance.
The amendment
This meeting comes a day after BlackRock made amendments to its S-1 application in which it revealed a new ticker for its proposed iShares Bitcoin Trust named IBIT.
The world’s largest asset manager also changed it to a cash-only ETF, which means only cash can be used for creating new shares of the fund and not Bitcoin.
The meeting is the latest in a series of them between the SEC and BlackRock regarding the latter’s Bitcoin ETF application.
The asset manager had also met with the regulator back in November to discuss a proposed rule change for facilitating the participation of Wall Street Banks in the ETF, as crypto market makers would carry the risk.
Bitcoin ETF application
In June, the entire crypto industry was taken by surprise when BlackRock submitted its spot Bitcoin ETF application.
The entry of the largest asset manager in the world in the race for a Bitcoin ETF had given rise to hopes that the SEC would finally approve the financial instrument.
Before that, the SEC had turned out every single bitcoin ETF application that had been submitted for years.
In January 2024, there is a window during which multiple spot Bitcoin ETF applications could receive simultaneous approval by the SEC.
Therefore, the regular meetings between the securities regulator and BlackRock have sparked optimism that a spot Bitcoin ETF just might get approval in the coming year.
According to analysts from JP Morgan and Bloomberg Intelligence, it is likely that at least one application will get approval in January.
Most market observers believe that the approval would lead to a large inflow of capital in the crypto market, but JP Morgan has taken a more cautious outlook in terms of crypto.
Its analysts have said that capital would mostly move from existing Bitcoin products like GBTC into the new ETF.