KEY POINTS
- Aside from BlackRock, several other hopeful Bitcoin ETF issuers have met with the SEC over the past weeks
- BlackRock's recent meeting with thte SEC was its third in a span of two months
- The SEC's Division of Trading and Markets and the Division of Corporate Finance were in attendance during recent meetings with issuers
New York-based asset management giant BlackRock had another meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week, and an ETF analyst described it as "most notable."
BlackRock, the multinational investment giant with over $4.3 trillion assets as of June 2023, once again sat with some SEC officials — something it appears to have been doing regularly over the past weeks as anticipation for the possible SEC decision on spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications heightens.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Jeff Seyffart said there was nothing groundbreaking to report about the event since issuers have sat down with the agency over the past few weeks to discuss their filings. However, he noted that BlackRock's meeting marked the third in-person discussion with the major Wall Street regulator.
"Nothing groundbreaking to report but 4 different issuers have met with the SEC regarding their #Bitcoin ETF filings in last few days. @BlackRock met with them yesterday for the third time in as many weeks," he wrote in a post on X.
Seyffart also revealed that both the Division of Trading and Markets and the Division of Corporate Finance of the SEC were in attendance during these recent meetings since both have a hand in deciding the fate of the issuers either by approving or denying their 19b-4 and S-1 forms.
"Both the Division of Trading & Markets AND the Division of Corporate Finance were present at each of these meetings. Those are the two divisions that will ultimately decide if & when the 19b-4's & S-1's would be approved or denied," he noted.
Nothing groundbreaking to report but 4 different issuers have met with the SEC regarding their #Bitcoin ETF filings in last few days. @BlackRock met with them yesterday for the third time in as many weeks. While @Grayscale, Franklin, and @Fidelity each had meetings last week pic.twitter.com/5gwBk83m0o
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) December 12, 2023
However, Eric Balchunas, another ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, described BlackRock's most recent meeting with the SEC as "most notable," as "everyone is waiting to see if they can convince SEC to allow in-kind creations in the first run of approvals."
Balchunas also talked about the presence of BlackRock's managing director and head of U.S. iShares Product in the meetings. He then pointed out that the investment company did not have its usual PowerPoint slides and questioned why the agency did not invite any market makers to gatherings like this.
"The third BlackRock meeting included Rachel Aquirre, she's head of all US iShares, rest mostly lawyers. She wasn't at the last meeting on 11/28. Also, no ppt slides this time. Also how come they don't invite market makers to these things," he said in his post on X.
Damn, the SEC is busier than Santa's elves. BlackRock's third meeting with them yesterday is the most notable IMO as everyone is waiting to see if they can convince SEC to allow in-kind creations in the first run of approvals. https://t.co/r2jqgpg87m
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) December 12, 2023
The ETF analyst shared last month that the SEC instructed ETF applicants to amend their filings and use cash instead of in-kind creations.
BlackRock's last two meetings with the SEC included a presentation, during which the agency offered options on how market manipulations could be avoided even when the issuer uses the in-kind model.
In its second meeting, BlackRock presented a revised in-kind creations and redemptions model, which underlined that the agency did not budge from its position on cash creation and redemption model for spot Bitcoin ETFs.
