5 January 2024
The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is set to make a significant Bitcoin purchase on January 5. This comes as Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart hinted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has no choice but to approve the pending Spot Bitcoin ETFs finally.
BlackRock To Purchase $10 Million Worth Of Bitcoin
As part of efforts to seed its Spot Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock will purchase $10 million worth of BTC on January 5. The asset manager had earlier scheduled this Bitcoin purchase for January 3. However, it was eventually postponed to this later date, possibly in a bid to ensure they gain all regulatory approvals and be fully compliant.
BlackRock had revealed how the sum of $10 million had come about in the latest amendment to its S-1 filing. The world’s largest asset manager had noted that the said sum was proceeds from the sale of its “Seed Creation Baskets.” The firm initially seeded its ETF back in October, with the fund’s Seed Capital Investor purchasing $100,000 in shares.
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart had previously warned that Blackrock’s plans to seed their ETF with this amount doesn’t mean they are launching just yet. However, he remarked that there was a possibility that the asset manager was doing so in anticipation of an imminent launch.
Meanwhile, it is also worth mentioning that BlackRock’s initial seed fund could eventually be outranked. Fellow issuer Bitwise revealed in their latest amendment to their Spot Bitcoin ETF that they could potentially seed their fund with up to $200 million if they eventually get approval from the SEC.
The SEC Is Backed Into A Corner
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart recently shared his thoughts on whether or not an approval order was going to come from the SEC soon enough. According to Cointelegraph, Seyffart stated that there was no way the Commission could get issuers to withdraw their application as they are already backed into a corner.
The analyst made this comment following his assertion that the regulator has run out of reasons to deny these Spot Bitcoin ETFs. He alluded to the Grayscale case, where the court ruled that the SEC’s reasons for denying the asset manager’s application were insufficient. With this in mind, Seyffart said that the SEC is likely to approve these funds soon enough.
These approvals could come as soon as next week, going by the analyst’s projection. Seyffart stated that he expects an official approval order to come between January 8 and 10. This is despite the recent rumors that the SEC could approve these funds before this week runs out.