The week all crypto investors have been looking forward to is finally here. January 10, 2024, is the day Bitcoin spot ETF gets approved opening up Bitcoin investment to non-crypto investors.
Spot Bitcoin ETF applicants were expected to submit their Form S-1 amendments by Monday, January 8, 2024, 8:00 AM EST.
As of 07:50 AM EST, only 9 out of the 11 applicants had submitted their S-1s. These are BlackRock, ARK 21Shares, VanEck, Valkyrie, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and Wilshire Phoenix
This comes just a few days after the 11 applicants submitted their 19b-4 amendment forms. The S-1 forms include crucial information about the spot Bitcoin ETF, including fees and identities of the market makers for the ETFs.
Eric Balchunas, an ETF expert from Bloomberg correctly predicted that final S-1 forms will be filed on January 8, 2024. Eric also tweeted “It’s basically done” on January 5, 2024, referring to the fact that the SEC was trying to line every applicant up for a live ETF launch on January 11, 2024.
Even though Balchinas is basically convinced of an ETF approval, he stated that “You gotta leave a little window open for these things (rejection)”
On the heightened tension of a Bitcoin spot ETF approval, Bitcoin price rose and crossed above $45,000 once more, setting the market on an extremely bullish sentiment. It is possible a $50,000 Bitcoin price coil tbe seen in the next few days.
Furthermore, in the S-1 forms submitted, a key pattern of applicants lowering their fees has stood out. BlackRock’s lowered to 0.30%, and ARK lowered to 0.25%, among others. This shows that these Wall Street giants are competing to offer cheap access to BTC-denominated tokens.