BlackRock’s iShares unit filed paperwork Thursday afternoon with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the formation of a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF, to be named the iShares Bitcoin Trust. According to the filing, the fund’s assets will consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust, with Coinbase as the custodian. Despite the SEC’s approval of a number of futures-based bitcoin ETFs, attempts at opening a spot bitcoin ETF have been rejected, including those from Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree.
Altcoins have seen losses over the past week, with tokens called out as securities in the SEC’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase experiencing some of the worst drops. Polygon’s MATIC is down 19%, Avalanche’s AVAX lost 17%, and Solana (SOL) 15%. Ether, not mentioned in the suits, held up slightly better, losing 9%. Bitcoin declined 3% for the week, though it’s currently up 2% to $25,500.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is leaving the Netherlands after failing to obtain a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license, which attests that it meets anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines. As of July 17, Dutch residents will only be able to withdraw their funds from the platform. We regret to announce that Binance is leaving the Dutch market, Binance said. No further purchases, trades or deposits will be possible. We encourage those users to take appropriate action by withdrawing assets from their accounts.