BlackRock is reportedly planning to acquire $10 million worth of BTC as initial funding for its potential spot Bitcoin ETF, still currently under review for approval from the SEC.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and one of the front-runners in the race to issue
the first Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States, is expected to purchase $10 million worth of Bitcoin
BTC
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$42,406
on Jan. 3, 2024, according to analysts.
On Dec. 23, market research analyst James Seyffart posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, highlighting BlackRock’s intentions to seed its ETF with the
BTC
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$42,406
it plans to purchase.
Seyffart followed up the post by saying that the document that mentions the BTC purchase is not final,
approved or “effective” – though the purchase would “jive with our Jan. approval prediction.”
He said that injection of capital wouldn’t necessarily mean the launch of the ETF,
but that BlackRock could be expecting a release shortly after.
According to Seyffar, the inclusion of the Jan. 3 date is just “teasing,” and he drew the parallel to the date being that of the genesis block of Bitcoin.
A user on the X platform asked Seyffar if $10 million would be a seed size he would expect,
to which Seyffar responded that it’s “fairly standard” but is also “subject to change.”
In late December, Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg analyst, also posted about the anticipated purchase on Jan 3., saying that BlackRock’s $10 million
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$42,406
purchase would be a “pretty big bump” from its initial $100,000 seed funding back in October.
Balchunas also posted about Bitwise S-1 being filed that intends to seed Bitwise’s pending Bitcoin spot
ETF with $200 million, which he said “blows away” what BlackRock plans to purchase.
“That’s gonna be a huge help in the early days of the race. No AP named but prob forthcoming.”
While Jan. 3 has been predicted as the date for BlackRock purchasing its
BTC
tickers down
$42,406
seed funding, there have also been multiple alternative reports stating the date has been pushed back to Jan. 5. Both dates are still speculative.
Cointelegraph has reached out to BlackRock for further information on the matter and has yet to receive a response.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) set the deadline for amendments to
Bitcoin spot ETF applications on Dec. 29, 2023, with which BlackRock, Van Eck and Valkyrie all filed last-minute amendments.
The SEC’s decision on the ETF is anticipated by analysts to be announced by Jan. 10, 2024.