Financial giants want to issue a spot Bitcoin ETF.
The financial institutions are showing renewed interest in cryptocurrency and are investing heavily. BlackRock applied for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) last week, while Invesco, another large asset manager, reapplied for approval to offer a spot Bitcoin ETF this week. WisdomTree, another ETF sponsor, also refilled for a spot Bitcoin asset after its initial filing was rejected by the SEC in 2022. In non-Bitcoin crypto news, a crypto exchange backed by Fidelity, Schwab, and Citadel Securities launched in the United States, and Deutsche Bank applied for a digital asset license in Germany.
Many have offered conspiracy theories as to why $10 trillion asset manager BlackRock and $1.5 trillion asset manager Invesco decided it was time for the spot Bitcoin ETF again. However, the most straightforward explanation is that financial institutions like making money, and offering a spot Bitcoin ETF is a way to achieve this. BlackRock, for example, sees a spot Bitcoin ETF as the path of least resistance in offering exposure to its clients. If approved, BlackRock will only make money on this ETF. So far, about a dozen spot Bitcoin ETF applications have been rejected by the SEC, but BlackRock’s latest application may satisfy the market surveillance and disclosure requirements demanded by the SEC.
Financial institutions want to make money, and this is a way to make money.
