BlackRock Revises its Spot Bitcoin ETF Application

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BlackRock has recently made a major change to its application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), in order to facilitate participation from large Wall Street banks.

The amended application now allows for the creation of new shares in the fund using cash, instead of just cryptocurrencies.

This new method, called the “in-kind redemption prepay” model, will make it possible for banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to act as authorized participants for the ETF.

This means that they can bypass current limitations that prevent them from holding direct investments in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

During a meeting with the United States Securities Exchange Commission on November 28, six members of BlackRock and three from NASDAQ presented the new model.

If approved, this change could open up opportunities for Wall Street banks with trillion-dollar balance sheets to become involved in the cryptocurrency market, as many of them are heavily regulated and are currently unable to hold Bitcoin directly.