Just In: Fidelity Official Files Application for Spot Bitcoin ETF

After so much public speculation and expectations, Massachusetts-based multinational financial services corporation Fidelity Investments has applied to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) dubbed Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. 

The filing mentioned a surveillance sharing agreement” with an unnamed U.S. spot-based bitcoin trading platform.

Fidelity Investment’s Initial Spot BTC ETF Application 

Noteworthy, Fidelity had previously filed an application for the same offering in a private meeting with the U.S. regulator but its request met with a roadblock.

At the time, Tom Jessop, the President of Fidelity Digital Assets tried to convince the SEC to approve the BTC derivative product by citing some reasons. 

One of the reasons that he highlighted was the growth in the number of Bitcoin holders, another is the increased investor appetite for digital assets and the approval of Bitcoin ETF in other countries. The SEC did not seem to be buying it at that time.

BlackRock’s Spot BTC ETF Applications Stirs Others 

After the request was rejected last year, nothing was heard about a reapplication until two weeks ago when popular investment asset management firm BlackRock filed for its spot BTC ETF. 

BlackRock’s application for iShares Bitcoin Trust took the entire crypto industry by surprise especially as it came when regulators in the United States were cracking down on crypto entities. Leading digital asset service providers Binance and Coinbase had just been dealt separate blows by the SEC around that time.

Apart from the surprise, it looked like the BlackRock application for a spot BTC ETF was a sign of renewed hope. Hence, other asset managers decided that it was time to either apply or reapply for the same BTC derivative product. U.S. asset management firm WisdomTree reapplied for its spot Bitcoin ETF known as ‘WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust’. 

After two years of rejection, Invesco also refiled for spot Bitcoin ETF. Valkyrie and Bitwise followed the trend as well.

Until this moment, the SEC had not approved any spot BTC ETF, however, there are ongoing speculations that this may be the time for approval, seeing that Grayscale may likely win its lawsuit against the regulator for rejecting its BTC ETF request.