BlackRock Overhauls Bitcoin ETF Model, Swiss Pando Enters Race

The latest entrant in the race for the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US is Swiss asset manager Pando Asset. Investment titan BlackRock met with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the same day Pando filed its application to present its changed model based on the SEC’s feedback, Cointelegraph reported.

Pando filed an S1 with the SEC on Nov. 29. This form is filed to register securities with the regulator. The proposed Pando Asset Spot Bitcoin Trust will use Coinbase’s custody branch to hold Bitcoin and track the flagship crypto’s price.

This makes Pando the 13th applicant for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the country, preceded by Grayscale, BlackRock, ARK Invest, etc.

‘More questions than answers’

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X yesterday that he had more questions than answers about the Swiss asset manager’s filing, wondering why it happened so late. His coworker James Seyffart predicted the SEC would approve all spot Bitcoin ETF applications at once on Jan. 10, because this is the deadline for the regulator to approve or reject ARK Invest’s application.

‘Crazier things have happened’

Seyffart wrote on X that Pando’s ETF was unlikely to be “ready to go on [the] first day with the others but crazier things have happened, I guess.”

Why BlackRock’s revision?

BlackRock execs met with the SEC on Nov. 28 to talk about their ETF filing, according to agency documents. Earlier, the SEC had expressed concern regarding the fund’s potential effects on balance sheets. What’s more, US broker-dealers face certain risks when dealing with offshore crypto platforms. This motivated BlackRock to revise its redemption model.

Balchunas says broker-dealers are not allowed to deal in Bitcoin. According to the new model, the offshore platform will get Bitcoin from Coinbase and prepay the registered broker-dealer in cash, because they can’t handle Bitcoin directly.