Bitcoin jumped past $25.700, a more than 1.3% gain, in the hour after the iShares unit of fund management powerhouse BlackRock (BLK) filed paperwork Thursday afternoon with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the formation of a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF.
Bitcoin dipped below $25,000 just a day earlier for the first time in three months and spent most of Thursday prior to the BlackRock announcement hovering just over that threshold. BTC’s price has sunk amid concerns about U.S. central bank hawkishness and increasing U.S. regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry.
But the BlackRock announcement rekindled optimism about the possibility of a spot bitcoin ETF, even after the SEC has rejected multiple applications over the past 18 months.
To be named the iShares Bitcoin Trust, the fund’s assets are to “consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust,” according to the filing. That custodian will by crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), said the filing.
CoinDesk earlier on Thursday reported on BlackRock’s intention to soon file for a bitcoin ETF.
Edited by James Rubin.
