A recent change to ARK Invest and 21Shares’ application for a joint spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange traded fund (ETF) could be seen as a “good sign” of progress and impending approvals.
An amended Oct. 11 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for approval adds additional information about the proposed spot Bitcoin ETF, including practices on how the fund holds assets and discovers assets.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said the changes could be a direct response to concerns the SEC has addressed to ETF issuers.
“This means that ARK has received the SEC’s comments and has addressed all of them and has now published them [the] Ball back in [the] “The SEC court,” Balchunas said. “[In my opinion] Good sign, solid progress.”
There are 5 additional pages in the new S-1, but the new content is scattered throughout, like in the two examples above. So what does that mean? This means that ARK has received the SEC’s comments and addressed them all and is now putting the ball back in the SEC’s hands. In my opinion a good sign, solid progress.
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 11, 2023
Balchunas said the changes were “scattered all over the place,” making the new file five pages longer, adding in a separate post that “none of the comments were that new or insurmountable.”
Among the changes was ARK determining that the fund’s net asset value (NAV) calculations were inconsistent with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) – an accounting standard used by the SEC, Balchunas said.
The new filing also clarifies that the ETF assets held by Coinbase Custody are in “segregated accounts.” […] and are therefore not commingled with company or other customer assets.”
This is also new (and again something the SEC has been inquiring about): “The Trust’s assets at the custodian are held in segregated accounts on the Bitcoin blockchain, commonly referred to as “wallets,” and therefore are not linked to any entity – or other customers mixed assets.” pic.twitter.com/57TmnNi1lE
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 11, 2023
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart added and X posted the latter change, which suggests that ARK and others are communicating with the SEC about what the regulator wants clarified.
“In my opinion, a good sign for future approval,” he added.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs: A $600 Billion Tipping Point for Crypto
Scott Johnsson, general partner at Van Buren Capital, noted that another new addition is a comment that the value of the ETF could decline if BTC is increasingly used for illegal purposes and Bitcoin mining is restricted due to its environmental impact.
I still smile a little about this “power consumption” risk factor. Ark didn’t even bother to include a coherent header summary or more than a few short sentences. You know the conversation with the SEC was like, “Oh yeah, good call, Mr. SEC Counsel, this is definitely material” https://t.co/unIArFDKl8
— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) October 12, 2023
Johnsson said that based on ARK’s amendment requests, “it does not appear that the agency is creating unnecessary barriers through the disclosure review.”
Collect this item as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.
Magazine: Web3 Gamer: Minecraft bans Bitcoin P2E, iPhone 15 & crypto gaming, Formula E
Learn Crypto Trading, Yield Farms, Income strategies and more at CrytoAnswers
https://nov.link/cryptoanswers
Comments are closed.