SEC greenlights listing and trading options for BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF
Quick Take
- The SEC approved spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, but had not yet approved listing and trading for options on those products.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved BlackRock's proposal to list and trade options for its spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
The SEC said it was approving the world's largest asset manager on an "accelerated basis" to list those options for the iShares Bitcoin Trust (ticker IBIT), in a filing posted on Friday. Nasdaq ISE, LLC would be listing and trading those options.
"The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on Amendment Nos. 4 and 5 from interested persons, and is approving the proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment Nos. 1, 4, and 5, on an accelerated basis," the SEC said.
The SEC approved several spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, including from firms such as BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity. Others, including Grayscale and Bitwise, are also looking to list and trade options for their spot bitcoin ETFs.
BlackRock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"8+ months after spot bitcoin ETFs launched…Options trading has now been approved," said ETF Store President Nate Geraci in a post on X. "Better late than never."
Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said he expected others to get the SEC's sign-off.
"I'm assuming others will be approved in short order," Balchunas said in a post on X. "Huge win for the the bitcoin ETFs (as it will attract more liquidity which will in turn attract more big fish)."
An SEC official earlier this week noted that exchange-traded fund is "misused." The SEC often uses the term exchange-traded products, or ETPs, when talking about these products.
"When we're talking about spot bitcoin ETPs, they're exchange-traded products," said Natasha Vij Greiner, director of SEC's Division of Investment Management during Georgetown University's Financial Markets Quality Conference on Tuesday.
"They're actually not under the '40 Act [Investment Company Act of 1940], they're not a 40 act product and so there are not the same protections and some of the same considerations related to custody that we're grappling with," Greiner added.
Update: Sept. 20, 9:55 p.m. UTC to include details throughout
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