In June 2023, asset management giant BlackRock submitted an application for iShares Bitcoin Trust, starting a new round of Bitcoin spot ETF application competition. Spurred by BlackRock, many investment/asset management institutions joined the competition. As of August 2023, eight institutions, including BlackRock, have applied to the SEC for Bitcoin spot ETFs.

According to the Bitcoin Spot ETF application process announced by the SEC, in the SEC’s Federal Register After 19b-4 is issued, the calculation of the ETF's resolution time will begin.

The SEC’s decision-making time for Bitcoin spot ETF applications totals 240 days. There will be 3 public replies in between. The intervals between reply dates are 45 days, 45 days, 90 days, and 60 days respectively. That is to say, the SEC can have three opportunities to delay the outcome of the ETF application before the SEC issues a final decision (approval or rejection). At the same time, the SEC has the power to approve or reject the application at any time during the resolution process.

The specific application process for Bitcoin spot ETF is as follows:

Taking BlackRock as an example, the SEC published the 19b-4 rule change document for iShares Bitcoin Trust in the Federal Register on July 19. Therefore, pushing back 45 days from July 19 is the first reply deadline for iShares Bitcoin Trust, which is September 2. If the SEC decides to postpone the resolution before this deadline, the next response will be postponed to 45 days later. And 240 days later, March 15, 2024, is the final reply date from iShares Bitcoin Trust.

Below, we list the specific application information of these 8 institutions, including the name of the application project, listing exchange, sponsor, trustee, custodian, application-related time, and historical application status.

BlackRock

ETF name: iShares Bitcoin Trust

Exchange: Nasdaq

Sponsor: BlackRock Fund Advisors

Trustee: Delaware statutory trust

Bitcoin custodian: Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC

Cash custodian: Bank of New York Mellon

Among them, the Bitcoin custodian and the cash custodian are collectively referred to as the custodian.

Relevant filing dates:

• Nasdaq filed a document with the SEC on June 29, 2023, regarding the proposed rule changes.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 19th
• The first reply date: September 2nd

Historical application status: None

Fidelity

ETF name: Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust

Exchange: Cboe BZX

Sponsored Person: FD Funds Management LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Manager: Fidelity Service Company, Inc. (FSC)

Transfer Assistant: Third Party Institution (no clear information yet)

Market agent: Fidelity Distributors Corporation

Bitcoin custodian: Fidelity Digital Assets Services, LLC (FDAS)

Application Relevant time:

• Cboe BZX filed a document with the SEC on proposed rule changes on June 30, 2023.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 19th
• The first reply date: September 2nd

Historical application status:

Fidelity submitted a spot ETF application in May 2021 and was rejected in February 2022.

Ark Invest

ETF name: ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF

Exchange: Cboe BZX

Sponsor: 21Shares US LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Cash Custodian (Transfer Agent): Bank of New York Mellon

Manager: Bank of New York Mellon

Market Agent: Foreside Global Services, LLC

Custodian: Coinbase Custody Trust Company , LLC

Marketing Assistant: ARK Investment Management LLC

Relevant time of application:

• Cboe BZX filed a proposal with the SEC on April 25, 2023 Documentation of rule changes.
• The notice publication date in the Federal Register is May 15th
• First reply date: June 29th (SEC decided to postpone the resolution)

Reason for rejection: The committee believed that more time was needed to consider the issues involved in the rule changes, so it decided to postpone the resolution.

On June 30, the exchange submitted Amendment No. 2; on July 11, it submitted Amendment No. 3

• Second reply date: August 13 (SEC Decided to postpone the resolution)

On August 11, the SEC issued a document soliciting opinions on Amendment 3, and the resolution time was postponed again

Historical application status:

Ark Invest had previously submitted two spot ETF applications, in 2021 and 2022, both of which were rejected.

Invesco

ETF name: Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF

The Galaxy in the name comes from the fact that the ETF tracks Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index

Exchange: Cboe BZX

Sponsor: Invesco Capital Management LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Custodian: U.S. third-party trust company and qualified custodian (no clear information yet)

Manager: Mature global fund manager (no clear information yet)

Transfer agent: third-party institution (no clear information yet)

Relevant time of application:

• Cboe BZX submitted a proposal to the SEC on June 30, 2023 Documentation of rule changes.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 19th
• The first reply date: September 2nd

Historical application status:

Invesco jointly submitted a spot ETF application with Galaxy in September 2021, and withdrew the application in the same year.

WisdomTree

ETF name: WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust

Exchange: Cboe BZX

Sponsor: WisdomTree Digital Commodity Services, LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Admin/Transfer Agent: U.S. Bank Global Fund Services

Custodian: U.S. Bank , National Association

Relevant filing date:

• Cboe BZX filed a document with the SEC on June 30, 2023, regarding proposed rule changes.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 19th
• The first reply date: September 2nd

Historical application status:

WisdomTree had previously submitted two spot ETF applications, in March 2021 and January 2022, both of which were rejected.

VanEck

ETF name: VanEck Bitcoin Trust

Exchange: Cboe BZX

Sponsor: VanEck Digital Assets, LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Administrator/Transfer Agent: The State Street Bank and Trust Company

Marketing Assistant: Van Eck Securities Corporation

Bitcoin Custodian: Third-party qualified custodian (no clear information yet)

Relevant filing dates:

• Cboe BZX filed with the SEC on June 30, 2023, regarding the proposed rule changes.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 19th
• The first reply date: September 2nd

Historical application status:

VanEck first submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF in June 2018 and withdrew its application in September 2019. Then, VanEck submitted applications for spot ETFs in March 2021 and June 2022, respectively, but both applications were rejected.

Bitwise

ETF name: Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust

Exchange: NYSE Arca

Sponsor : Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Cash Custodian (Transfer Agent): Third-party service provider (no clear information yet)

Bitcoin custodian: third-party custodian (no clear information yet)

Relevant time of application:

• NYSE Arca submitted an application to the SEC on June 28, 2023 Documentation of proposed rule changes.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 18th
• The first reply date: September 1st

Historical application status:

Bitwise submitted a spot ETF application in October 2021 and was rejected in June 2022.

Valkyrie

Application project: Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund

Exchange: Nasdaq

Sponsor: Valkyrie Digital Assets, LLC

Trustee: Delaware Trust Company

Bitcoin Custodian: Third-party qualified custodian (no clear information yet)

Manager/ Transfer Agent: U.S. Bank Global Fund Services

Relevant dates for filing:

• Nasdaq filed a document with the SEC on the proposed rule changes on July 3, 2023.
• The notification date on the Federal Register is July 21st
• First reply date: September 4th

Historical application status:

Valkyrie submitted a spot ETF application in April 2021 and was rejected in December 2021.

All the above information comes from the SEC Federal Register.

Summary

• Ark Invest’s ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF is the earliest application submitted in this round The Bitcoin spot ETF has experienced two replies and both suffered postponements. The remaining ETFs all have first response dates in early September.
• Except BlackRock, all other companies have experience in applying for Bitcoin spot ETFs. Of these, VanEck has the most experience. It started in 2018 and has applied for Bitcoin spot ETF three times.
• The application documents of eight ETFs all added the reason for rejection that was mentioned repeatedly in earlier 2021 applications, the Surveillance Sharing Agreement (SSA).
• The eight ETF applications all propose trading on one of three exchanges: Nasdaq, Cboe BZX and NYSE Arca. Among them, the exchange with the largest proportion of applications is Cboe BZX, accounting for 5/8. This may be related to the positive attitude towards crypto assets and their derivatives that Cboe BZX has expressed.
• The eight ETFs have slightly different levels of detail in their application documents. Take Valkyrie and VanEck as examples. Neither of them publish detailed custodian information.