Cboe Files for Investment Giant Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange has filed a 19b-4 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledging that it will be listing and trading shares of the Wise Origin’s Bitcoin exchange-traded product, saying concerns about potential manipulation of a Bitcoin ETF have been “sufficiently mitigated.”

With this move, it has kicked off the process to the SEC.

Wise Origin, a fund affiliated with Fidelity Investments, first filed the application for its Bitcoin ETF in March. However, for the SEC to consider it, they need an exchange partner to file a corresponding 19b-4 form, which Cboe did on Monday.

Now, it's the agency's turn to make a move within 45 days to make a decision on the ETF application. Typically, SEC has taken the full 240 days to evaluate a bitcoin ETF application and has rejected every single one of them so far.

With the appointment of new SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is expected to be more crypto-friendly than his predecessor Jay Clayton, along with the matured market, there is a higher expectation for a crypto ETF to be finally approved this year.

Last week, Gensler told Congress that the crypto market “could benefit from greater investor protection.”

Bitcoin market participants claim that such a product would bring in a horde of new investors, including those who either can’t invest in the cryptocurrency directly or who are only able to invest in regulated investment vehicles.

NYSE listed the first gold ETF in Nov 2004, and the price never came back.

Many economic factors have affected the gold price, but listing ETF would have played a major role in the inflow of global institutional funds.

We may never see this $BTC price again once ETFs approved. pic.twitter.com/4a6FwhJ7Ok

— Ki Young Ju 주기영 (@ki_young_ju) May 9, 2021

Already, VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF application is undergoing the SEC review, a decision on which was postponed by the agency for June. VanEck, along with WisdomTree and Kryptcoin, have also filed with Cboe exchange. Another company is Valkyrie which is working with NYSE Arca for its Bitcoin ETF.

Last week, VanEck also filed for an Ether ETF, which along with other Bitcoin ETF applications from SkyBridge, NYDIG, and Galaxy Digital, have filed the requisite 19b-4 forms.

Amidst this, Ninepoint Partners LP, which has $6.5 billion in assets under management, is dedicating a portion of its crypto ETFs management fee to offset the fund's carbon footprint. Alex Tapscott, managing director of digital assets at the Toronto-based firm said,

“For some investors who are concerned about the carbon footprint of mining, they may be wary of investing in a Bitcoin ETF.”

“What we’re doing is creating what we hope is a solution to that problem and giving them the choice that they want and, frankly, that they need.”

Ninepoint is partnering with CarbonX to purchase carbon credits and support forest conservation projects. The company's Bitcoin ETF was converted from a trust on May 6 and had roughly $320 million in assets at the time.

Alan Howard-backed One River Asset Management is another company that is building carbon neutrality into its existing Bitcoin and Ether funds and planning to seek regulatory approval for an ETF with the same features.