Italy’s State-Owned Bank Trials Digital Bonds on Polygon Blockchain
The European Central Bank initiated the trial to explore how blockchains can enhance central bank settlement.
A spot for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States might have hit a delay with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defining investment manager applications as insufficient.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the matter, noting that the SEC regulator informed both Nasdaq and the Chicago Board Options Exchange that their applications filed were not clear enough or comprehensive to be considered.
Both traditional trade exchanges are representing asset managers in the process of filing applications for the ETF. According to the SEC, the exchanges should have described the spot Bitcoin ($BTC) exchange with a “surveillance-sharing agreement”, otherwise they would have offered sufficient information about the details and insights into the surveillance arrangements. While the SEC has shot down the filings, though, the exchanges can resubmit the applications with more information.
Bitcoin ETF applications in the US
The SEC has seen many applications filed over the last few weeks. With BlackRock hoping to offer the first spot Bitcoin ETF, other firms are looking to get their application submitted and accepted first. BlackRock’s ETF application introduced a surveillance-sharing agreement, providing more information about the market trading between shared entities in order to avoid any chance of market manipulation practices.
Financial firms are vying to be the first to offer Bitcoin ETFs to customers. Other companies include ARK Invest, Valkyrie, Invesco, and Fidelity. According to Senior ETF Analyst for Bloomberg Eric Balchunas, ARK currently has the best bet to be approved for an ETF spot first having filed before BlackRock.
JUST IN: ARK has amended their 19b-4 for spot bitcoin ETF to include a surveillance sharing agreement bt CBOE and a crypto exchange (likely Coinbase), which makes their’s like BlackRock’s filing now, and puts them in pole position to be approved first bc they filed first. pic.twitter.com/P8PCmPdhln
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 28, 2023