Godfrey Benjamin
American investment management firm BlackRock has updated its spot Bitcoin ETF prospectus. The firm’s BTC ETF, dubbed the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), remains the largest in the market per Assets Under Management (AUM) besides the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
What is New With BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF?
According to an update shared by Bloomberg’s Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, BlackRock updated the spot Bitcoin ETF prospectus with the list of major Wall Street banks as Authorized Providers (APs).
Per the screenshot of the updated filing, BlackRock has now named Swiss multinational banking giant UBS, and American financial giants Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Citadel as first-time entrants into the ETF market. This inclusion now places these financial giants alongside JPMorgan and Jane Street among others currently serving as APs to BlackRock.
JUST IN: BlackRock updated its bitcoin ETF prospectus w/ many new Authorized Participants incl first-timers Citadel, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup. Takeaway: big time firms now want piece of action and/or are now OK being publicly associated w this. H/t @akibablade @CryptoSlate… pic.twitter.com/z5Ntb43VhO
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 5, 2024
Authorized Participants are important players in the exchange-traded fund marketplace as they manage the creation and redemption of ETFs in the market. As much as there is competition in the broader ETF market, so also is there competition among mainstream banks to join and act as APs for spot Bitcoin ETF issuers.
Jane Street for instance serves as AP for more than BlackRock. It also serves Grayscale’s GBTC, Franklin Templeton, Bitwise, and Valkyrie amongst others. According to Eric Balchunas, this inclusion of bigger banks is major proof that there is a growing demand to join the ETF bandwagon by the mainstream traditional finance players.
Changing Terrain in Bitcoin Adoption
The tide is changing drastically with respect to the adoption of Bitcoin across the board. While some banks were cautious about adopting BTC a few years back, the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF in January ushered in a paradigm shift for the cryptocurrency.
Earlier, Coingape reported that Asher Genoot, the CEO of Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 confirmed that mainstream or Wall Street banks have been approaching the company for Bitcoin acquisition. This demand, he attributed to a supply crunch on trading platforms due to the spot Bitcoin ETF success.
With more APs joining the foray, the supply crunch is poised to grow stronger, creating an ultimately bullish upside for Bitcoin in the long term. At the time of writing.
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