As Race for Spot BTC ETF Hots Up, CEO Cathie Wood Says Ark Invest is First in the Queue

The first Bitcoin ETF was submitted in 2013 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. However, regulators in the United States have not approved any such application yet.

But now, they appear to be under tremendous pressure, with some of the biggest players in traditional finance throwing their hats into the ring.

The race for the BTC ETF

In the latest, the world’s largest fund manager – BlackRock – filed on June 15 for an instant Bitcoin investment trust fund through iShares, the company that operates its portfolio of ETFs. In less than two weeks, several other companies, including rival asset management giant Fidelity, have reintroduced Bitcoin ETFs. Other notable names include Invesco, WisdomTree, Valkyrie Investments, and VanEck.

These companies have tried to address the SEC’s concerns, as evidenced by the regulator’s lawsuit against Binance and Coinbase. For example, BlackRock’s app features a watch-sharing clause, a first for Bitcoin ETF apps. Ten days after the SEC filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, BlackRock has added a monitoring sharing requirement to its application.

Under the Monitoring Participation Agreement, the fund manager will share trading and clearing details and client identity with regulators to avoid fraud and manipulation.

However, news reports indicated that the SEC found BlackRock’s application to be inadequate and lack specific details. After that, the asset manager resubmitted the application stating that it had designated Coinbase as its monitoring partner.

Ark Invest, which filed a spot Bitcoin ETF order with investment firm 21Shares in April, amended its filing on June 28 to add a watch share requirement. It is also possible that Ark Invest will have Coinbase as a partner in the monitoring engagement.

The growing interest of big players in the spot BTC ETF has spurred the entire cryptocurrency market, as BTC has maintained its price around $30,000.

Ark Invest First in Line: CEO Cathy Wood

Now, if the SEC gives the go-ahead, her application will be debated first.

ARK Investment CEO Cathy Wood has argued her firm is in first place if SEC approval comes, Bloomberg reports. It said the agency could take up to mid-January for Ark Invest’s and up to March for Black Rock’s Spot BTC ETF applications to be approved or denied.

But clarity will be available much earlier when the court delivers its ruling, expected in August, in Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC’s decision to deny the spot Bitcoin ETF application.

Grayscale Bitcoin ETF is proposed to be fully backed by BTC in cold storage. Wood argued that approving a Bitcoin Futures ETF, which includes swaps, and not greenlighting a fully backed Spot ETF is contradictory.

Given all of these factors, BlackRock has no advantage over Ark Invest, Ark Invest CEO claims.