Bitcoin Tops $45,000 As BlackRock, Fidelity, Others File Their Final S-1s
January 08 2024 - 8:15AM
NEWSBTC
All applicants for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) have
submitted their final Form S-1 amendments to the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This marks a pivotal
moment, especially as the deadline for submission was set for 8:00
am EST today, January 8. Leading the pack, Valkyrie submitted its
final S-1 amendment well ahead of the speculated January 10 date,
which many industry insiders believe could see the first approvals
of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US. Following suit, major players such
as WisdomTree, BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, Grayscale, ARK
Invest, 21Shares, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton and Grayscale also
completed their submissions. However, Hashdex has not updated its
S-1. The new filings are the penultimate step before the spot
Bitcoin ETF approvals. The last one is the SEC voting on the 19b-4s
filings in the coming days, specifically on Wednesday. Related
Reading: Revised Forecast: Bloomberg Analyst Cuts Probability Of
Bitcoin Spot ETF Rejection To 5% Scott Johnsson, finance lawyer at
Davis Polk elaborated: “Best guess on timing (not definitive): –
Monday: “Final” S-1/3 filed – Wednesday: 19b-4 approval orders
issued post-close – Thursday: Requests for acceleration from
issuers – Friday: Notice of effectiveness filed from SEC – Tuesday:
Trading starts” Best guess on timing (not definitive):– Monday:
“Final” S-1/3 filed– Wednesday: 19b-4 approval orders issued
post-close– Thursday: Requests for acceleration from issuers–
Friday: Notice of effectiveness filed from SEC– Tuesday: Trading
starts — Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) January 8, 2024 Others expect
that the spot Bitcoin ETFs could even start trading as early as
Thursday or Friday. Fee War For Spot Bitcoin ETFs Begins The S-1
amendments are crucial as they disclose information about fees for
the potential ETFs. In an interesting turn of events, several
filers have significantly lowered fees for trading their potential
spot Bitcoin ETF products. Initially, BlackRock was leading with
the lowest fees. Katie Greifeld, anchor of The Close and ETF IQ on
Bloomberg, highlighted: BLACKROCK’S FEE is finally listed. Final
fee is 30bp, BUT 20 bps in the first 12 months or until the first
$5 billion in assets. That’s the new low-water mark. However,
Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest announced lower fees shortly after. The
latest S-1 of Ark shows a drop from 0.80% to 0.25%, and a special
offer of 0% fees during a six-month period from the day of listing,
for the first $1 billion in transactions. Eric Balchunas, a
Bloomberg analyst, commented on this competitive landscape: But
wait, ARK just dropped their fee to 0.25% in an S-1 filed 20
minutes after BlackRock’s. Told y’all the fee war would break out
bf they even launched. And this is w out Vanguard on the mix. Damn.
[…] ARK going from 80 bps to 25 bps in one shot is breathtaking.
The fee wars are intense but that’s another level. Altho they kinda
had to. BlackRock at 30 bps is potential instant destroyer of
anyone much higher.# However, Ark was undercut at the last minute
as well. Bitwise submitted a 0.24% fee. No fees are charged for the
first six months or $1 billion AUM. Notably, VanEck also disclosed
a fee of only 0.25%, though without any special promotions for the
launch, unlike BlackRock and Ark Invest. The leading quartet is
followed by Franklin Templeton (0.29%), Fidelity Wise Origin
Bitcoin Trust (0.39%), WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust (0.50%), Invesco
Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (0.59%), Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (0.8%), Hashdex
(0.90%) and Grayscale (1.5%). Related Reading: Bitcoin Spot ETF:
VanEck’s Head Of Research Says BlackRock Has $2 Billion In
Investments Lined Up Eric Balchunas elaborated that, historically,
temporary fee waivers have not significantly impacted investor
decisions, as advisors tend to focus on long-term fees. However,
given the uniformity of services offered by these ETFs, he
suggested that fee differences might play a more significant role
this time. “Historically this hasn’t moved the needle much […]
Advisors focused on regular fees since they are long term
investors. That said, given all these ETFs all do the same thing,
maybe it will matter all else equal, we’ll see,” he remarked. Katie
Greifeld commented, “I spoke too soon re: low-water mark! Ark and
21 Shares are going 0.25% and NO FEE for the first six months or
until $1 billion in assets. These are very, very low numbers. […]
VanEck also coming in hot with a 25 bp fee. For context, GLD — the
largest physically backed commodity ETF — charges 40bp.” Following
the news, the Bitcoin price reacted with a 2% jump, rising as high
as $45,300. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from
TradingView.com
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