Investment management juggernaut Fidelity, which boasts an impressive $4 trillion in assets, has officially refiled for a spot Bitcoin ETF under the "Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust" name. This move is the latest sign of traditional finance's increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The filings, as noted by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, bear striking similarities to those of investment titans BlackRock and Ark Invest.
A key aspect of the filing is the Surveillance Sharing Agreement (SSA) language, which appears identical to those in ARK's filings, with BlackRock's submission also showing similarities. This suggests a coalescing of strategies by these large institutional players around a set template that may be more likely to win approval from the SEC.
Nevertheless, the series of filings from leading financial incumbents—BlackRock, Fidelity, and Ark Invest—raises questions about whether these firms have received signals from the SEC that the Bitcoin ETFs might be approved.
This might be a tricky situation for SEC Chair Gary Gensler as he navigates the challenging task of regulating the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market.