ARK Invest has become the first to file its final Form S-1 amendment for its proposed spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) ahead of a reported United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-imposed deadline understood as a requirement to be considered in the first wave of decisions in January 2024.
According to an earlier report, officials from the SEC met with representatives of at least seven firms on Dec. 21, setting a deadline for applicants to file their final S-1 amendments by Dec. 29.
Regulators reportedly told attendees at the meetings that any issuer that doesn’t meet the deadline will not be part of a first wave of potential spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in early January.
According to an SEC filing, ARK Invest filed an amendment to the S-1 registration statement for its Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF late on Dec. 28.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that the amendment was centered around authorized participants.
On Dec. 19, Ark revised its application with a change to cash creations and redemptions for shares in the fund. This was in line with other issuers who had to “bend the knee” to cash creations.
ARK kicks off the S-1 Amendment-athon. Ahead of the pack as usual. Unclear yet what was changed tho, AP mentioned a ton but not named. Assuming that will prob come in the very final effective update just prior to launch. But we still don't know if they have signed agreement. https://t.co/mcNgpoR451
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) December 28, 2023
Fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said earlier that he was surprised not to have seen any amended Bitcoin ETF filings yet. Balchunas commented that others may wait until the last minute because they don’t want to show their competitors the amendments.
More than a dozen firms are vying for an approved spot Bitcoin ETF, with more amended S-1 filings expected to be submitted in the coming 24 hours.
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Remarking on the flurry of activity leading up to the anticipated launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, ETF Store president Nate Geraci said:
“I love the fact that this saga is forcing more TradFi investors to learn about crypto and more crypto investors to learn about ETF wrapper. That is “The Bridge.” Crypto isn’t going away.”
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