COIN price shoots up by 10% as BlackRock and CBOE refile Bitcoin ETFs, partnering with Coinbase

Coinbase enjoyed the benefits from the relentless attempts of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) to make the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) a reality. Although the CBOE's first attempt at aquiring regulatory approval for Bitcoin ETF failed, the market remains hopeful that their second attempt will be successful. According to a research note by asset manager Bernstein the probability the CBOE will be successful is high, although buy in from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cannot be assured.

Coinbase shares ride the bullish rally

Coinbase stock COIN closed at $79.93 on Monday and rose to $80.02 at the time of writing, in post-market trading. The cryptocurrency exchange’s share value shot up by 11.84% in this duration riding on the back of the CBOE’s refiling of spot Bitcoin ETFs on Friday.

COIN 1-day chart

CBOE’s second attempt at a filing came after the SEC stated that the filings from Fidelity, WisdomTree and BlackRock were unclear and incomplete, making them inadequate. In order to deal with this, CBOE partnered with Coinbase in order to prevent any accusations of market manipulation in the process when it came to filing the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF.

In addition to the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF, the exchange also refiled the applications from VanEck, WisdomTree, and a joint effort from Invesco and Galaxy. 

Furthermore, BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset management company, also refiled its spot Bitcoin ETF application on Monday. BlackRock noted that it, too, would use Coinbase as its surveillance sharing agreement (SSA) counterpart, in line with SEC’s concerns.

These filings and the probability of their approval were addressed by asset management and brokerage firm Bernstein in its recent research report. The company stated that it is difficult to justify the SEC’s stance and that approval is very likely. 

According to Bernstein, the SEC believes that spot Bitcoin ETFs are not reliable since spot exchanges like Coinbase are not under the regulatory body’s command. The report also discussed Grayscale’s attempt to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into ETF, stating,

“The court did not sound convinced that the futures price is not derived from the spot price, and thus to allow a futures based ETF and not allow spot sounds like a difficult pill to swallow for the courts.

Thus, if the refreshed filing sits well with the SEC, the path for GBTC’s conversion into an ETF would not be too difficult either.