Fidelity Investments pushed the agency in a private meeting last week, justifying its insistence through the increasing number of Bitcoin holders as well as great investor interest. So far, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved the financial services corporation’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The multinational company’s president, Tom Jessop, met with SEC officials via video call on September 8. No executives have responded to media requests for comment at the time of publication.
Over 10 pending applications
The SEC is not keen on approving Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., due to which these funds struggle a lot. More than 10 applications are currently pending. WisdomTree, VanEck, Invesco Ltd., Valkyrie Digital Assets, Galaxy Digital, ProShares, and Anthony Scarammuci’s SkyBridge are some of them.
Fidelity originally filed its Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust in March, but did not receive a response until June. So far, there have been two rounds of talks between Fidelity and SEC. Fidelity’s application is pending like all the others.
Purpose Investments: a pioneer
The first to apply for a Bitcoin ETF were the Winklevoss twins, which happened eight years ago. At the time, the currency was changing hands for under $100. The SEC is set in its ways. In Canada, Purpose Investments was approved for a Bitcoin ETF, making this the first fund of its kind in North America. Will it be the last?
Fidelity’s first BTC fund raises $102M in a year
In related news, Fidelity Investments’ first Bitcoin fund raised $102 million since its launch in August of last year. It is a passively-managed vehicle sold to wealthy and qualified investors through a subsidiary, Fidelity Digital Funds. SEC filings show that more than 80 investors pooled their bets, raising $102,350,437 in total. This makes the offering one of the biggest of its kind, paralleled only by financial services companies like Pantera, Galaxy, and NYDIG.
Fidelity launched an active nontransparent ETF
Fidelity became the third company to start an ANT (active nontransparent ETF) last year. Back then, Phil Mackintosh, chief economist at the Nasdaq, said:
“The advent of ANTs was an evolution of the mutual fund industry that was a gap that needed to be filled for a long time. Now that they’re approved, it really doesn’t surprise me that there’s people coming to market with these ETF products that are copycats of their well-known mutual fund products with a track record.”
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