Bitcoin rallied to a 2-year high early on Tuesday after eagle-eyed traders noticed the ticker of Wall Street giant BlackRock’s iShares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) appear on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) website, adding to speculations that a potential approval of the investment product by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is edging closer. The ticker disappeared from the website a few hours later.
In an X (formerly Twitter) thread, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the DTCC listing was part of the process of bringing a crypto-focused ETF to the market. The iShares spot Bitcoin ETF, which was applied by BlackRock for a possible listing and trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange back in June, has a ticker symbol of “IBTC”.
IBTC Bitcoin Spot ETF Appears Briefly On The DTCC Website
Blachunas further explained that IBTC was the first spot Bitcoin ETF to be listed on DTCC, indicating that the world’s largest asset manager is leading the charge on the “logistics” involved, such as seeding and ticker issuance, for the launch of the first-ever crypto ETP in the US spot market.
He added that it is “hard not to view” the development as a signal for the crypto markets that a BTC spot ETF approval is “certain/imminent”.
The Bloomberg analyst also speculated that BlackRock may have already gotten approval from the SEC to list its ETF and was preparing for the launch of IBTC shares. As per the investment giant’s application, the SEC has until January 10, 2024, to make a final decision on whether to approve or deny its ETF.
DTCC Says iShares Spot Bitcoin ETF Listing Part Of Standard Procedure
However, the DTCC has said that the move is not indicative of any regulatory approval but is just steps taken as part of the preparation process by any ETF issuer pending SEC approval where it gets a ticker symbol and a unique ID code known as CUSIP.
A spokesperson for the post-trade settlement house said it is “standard practice” for the agency to add securities to the National Securities Clearing Corporation’s (NSCC) eligibility file when they are close to launch. DTCC highlighted that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF was added to the list of active and potential ETFs in August.
Bitcoin broke the $35,000 mark for the first time since May 2022 on the back of the ETF development. According to data from TradingView, BTC reached a high of $35,300 on October 24 when the IBTC ticker first appeared on the DTCC file but slumped nearly 3% after it disappeared from the agency’s website a few hours later.
Much of the crypto market’s trading activity seemed to be hinged on news related to Bitcoin ETFs. There was so much hype surrounding BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF listing that the DTCC website, which typically does not witness such high levels of traffic, crashed. Balchunas said the event speaks volumes about the “uniqueness” and “intensity” of the whole saga that is unfolding.
Should BlackRock’s application be approved, it would open the floodgates for a number of spot Bitcoin ETFs that are currently being reviewed by the SEC. The list includes proposals from Fidelity, ARK Invest, Franklin Templeton, Bitwise, Invesco, and Valkyrie, among others. However, the securities watchdog has yet to approve a Bitcoin or Ether (ETH) ETF for listing on a US spot exchange but permitted the instruments in the futures market in October 2021.
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BTC Reaches Two-Year High As Court Orders SEC To Review Grayscale’s ETF Application
The DTCC listing comes on the back of the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court issuing a mandate on Monday to enforce its decision on the lawsuit between Grayscale and the SEC, causing BTC to surge by 10% to trade at $34,800.
On August 29, the court ordered the SEC to review the spot Bitcoin ETF application from the digital asset manager, which was rejected by the Commission last year on the grounds of crypto-focused instruments in the spot market having light oversight over potential fraud and market manipulation.
On October 19, Grayscale submitted a registration statement to the SEC to list shares of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) on the New York Stock Exchange Arca under the symbol GBTC.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $34,132 – up 0.6% from the previous day’s price.
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