By Susie Violet Ward · City A.M. · 20 June 2023
Written as a City A.M. column in June 2023, shortly after BlackRock filed for a spot bitcoin ETF, the piece notes that the US Securities and Exchange Commission had rejected a series of earlier spot applications, mainly citing the risk of market manipulation. BlackRock, with 99.8% of its previous ETF filings approved, partnered with Nasdaq on a surveillance-sharing agreement to address that concern, a move the column suggests could prove decisive.
The column also covers the SEC’s complaint against Coinbase, alleging that the exchange operated as an unregistered broker and that the cryptocurrencies it offered, apart from bitcoin, were unregistered securities. Coinbase and Binance said they had sought clarity from the SEC without success. The column reports speculation that the SEC’s actions could be part of a move towards a CBDC and greater institutional control, and predicted that JPMorgan would acquire Coinbase and that BlackRock’s ETF would be approved.