Fidelity files for its spot Bitcoin ETF as BTC edges closer to $31,000
- Fidelity asset manager has made its Bitcoin ETF filing official, following on the heels of BlackRock and WisdomTree.
- Kraken Exchange confirms that the move is part of a shared vision among institutional finance players to propagate Bitcoin adoption.
- BTC price is up 21% in the last two weeks, slowly edging toward the $31,000 mark.
Fidelity asset management has followed through on the commitment to file for spot Bitcoin ETF, officially submitting its application for consideration on June 29 at around 18:00 GMT. The move adds to the narrative that has driven BTC price higher of late, and now the flagship crypto continues to advance toward a critical level.
Fidelity mount pressure on SEC with spot Bitcoin ETF filing
Fidelity management has advanced in the race for Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) approval with an official filing on Thursday. A paragraph from the filing reads:
Fidelity Digital Assets Services, LLC (‘FDAS’), a regulated custodian licensed by the New York Department of Financial Services, will be responsible for custody of the Trust’s bitcoin (the ‘Custodian’).
The submission for consideration adds to the pile of applications on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) desk, given that BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest beat the asset manager to it.
Fidelity, overseeing around $4.2 trillion, and BlackRock, which commands up to $9.1 trillion in assets, present a formidable force in the cryptocurrency world and stock markets. As giants in the financial space, the influence of their filings and those of peer firms like Ark Invest, Invesco, and WisdomTree, have given force to the tailwinds driving Bitcoin price.
Noteworthy, the SEC has a history of approving or disapproving ETF filings to list and trade Trust Issued Receipts. The principal criteria for approval or disapproval hinge on whether the listing applicant has established a “comprehensive surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market of significant size related to the underlying commodity to be held.”
Historically, orders from the SEC have highlighted the presence of a derivatives market representing the regulated market of significant size in every approval order for Commodity-Based Trust Shares. In most instances, this has been the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Fidelity mounts pressure on SEC
With this development, the SEC faces a huge amount of pressure to approve some, if not all, applications, lest they come out as being an obstacle for the industry. Already, the financial regulator’s intention for the future of crypto has come into question several times before, the latest being its charge against Binance and Coinbase exchanges.
The SEC has also been criticized for driving crypto firms away from the US, with critics campaigning against weakening domestic consumer confidence in cryptocurrencies in America. Consequently, other jurisdictions like Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, and the UK have seized the opportunity to draw crypto innovation and capital into their borders. Specifically, the UK has just passed a bill recognizing crypto as “regulated financial activity,” which boosts European adoption.
Nevertheless, Kraken Exchange marks the move by Fidelity asset manager as a point of no return for greater Bitcoin adoption.
Greater Bitcoin adoption is inevitable at this point!
— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) June 29, 2023
Bitcoin price edges toward $31,000
Bitcoin (BTC) price remains bullish, moving along an uptrend line as investors hope for a decisive confirmation of a bull market. The bullish momentum started mid-June when the Parabolic SAR indicator, which only works in trending markets, flipped to track the BTC price from below.
This was around the time when the ETF narrative commenced with BlackRock’s filing, when the asset manager joined hands with Coinbase Custody.
BTC/USDT 1-Day Chart
At the time of writing, Bitcoin price is $30,531, marking a daily rise of almost 2%. As BTC slowly edges toward the $31,000 mark, data from CoinGecko shows that the king of crypto is up a whopping 20% in the last 14 days and a staggering 10% in the last month.
The increased market value has also come with an increased dominance, rising from 47% on June 6 to 50% at press time, CoinMarketCap data shows.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains below 70, meaning there was still room for more gains before BTC is considered overbought. Day traders are advised to keep their selling appetite in check, while bulls increase their buying momentum.
Author
Lockridge Okoth
FXStreet
Lockridge is a believer in the transformative power of crypto and the blockchain industry.
