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(Kitco News) - The race to launch the first spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) intensified on Tuesday as Cboe officially submitted amendments for five proposed spot BTC ETFs to include that it has “reached an agreement on terms” with Coinbase to enter into a surveillance sharing agreement (SSA).
Previous filings from the firm said that the exchange was “expecting” to enter into such an agreement, but did not say that an agreement had been made and did not specify which cryptocurrency exchange would be the SSA partner.
This led to reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission returned the ETF applications, saying they were “inadequate.”
The amended filings now say “On June 21, 2023, the Exchange [Cboe] reached an agreement on terms with Coinbase, Inc. (‘Coinbase’), an operator of a United States-based spot trading platform for Bitcoin that represents a substantial portion of US-based and USD denominated Bitcoin trading, to enter into a surveillance-sharing agreement (‘Spot BTC SSA’) and executed an associated term sheet.”
The 19b-4 filings for the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF have all now been amended to list Coinbase as the SSA partner.
Coinbase, the top cryptocurrency exchange by volume in the U.S., is now listed as the SSA partner for all the spot BTC ETFs vying for approval, including the application from BlackRock. The exchange is consistently responsible for more than 50% of the market share of BTC/USD spot trading volume, which is the reason it was selected as the SSA partner for the various ETF filings.
In reaction to the news, Coinbase (COIN) stock spiked 15% on Tuesday, surging from $78.08 to an intraday high of $92.11 – its highest price since August – and was trading at a price of $89.75 at the time of writing.
COIN/USD Chart by TradingView
While the recent ETF developments have brought renewed optimism to the crypto ecosystem, the outcome remains uncertain as the SEC has yet to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF due to concerns related to fraud and market manipulation. To date, the regulator has denied more than 30 such applications.
