Invesco, an investment management company with $1.4 trillion assets under management, has re-applied for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). The company first filed for a Bitcoin ETF in 2021 in conjunction with Galaxy Digital, and also filed for a Bitcoin futures ETF, but dropped the effort in October 2021 after a futures ETF by ProShares was approved and began trading first.
In its filing, Invesco argued that the lack of a spot Bitcoin ETF pushes investors towards riskier alternatives, citing insolvencies like FTX, Celsius Network, BlockFi, and Voyager Digital Holdings. The company also emphasized the need for investor protection, saying that approval for such a spot Bitcoin ETF hinges on a surveillance-sharing agreement with a significant, regulated market, not on the regulation of the spot Bitcoin market itself. BlackRock (BLK) also advocated for the same thing, arguing that Nasdaq could be brought in to fill this role.
The SEC is very concerned with market manipulation related to Bitcoin prices, and has cited this in almost, if not all, previous rejections, said Graeme Moore, Head of Tokenization, at the Polymesh Association. This is because the SEC’s view is that Coinbase and others are not regulated as exchanges and therefore cannot be trusted to ‘prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices’.
So far, the SEC hasn’t given any indication as to when it plans to make an announcement regarding a Bitcoin ETF. Grayscale, which currently shares common ownership with CoinDesk in Digital Currency Group, has sued the SEC over its rejected Bitcoin spot ETF. Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale, said he expects a decision in the case by September.