The race to launch a spot bitcoin ETF in the United States is heating up, with a new filing submitted in the past 24 hours. Crypto asset manager Valkyrie Digital Assets has also moved to file for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the wake of Invesco, WisdomTree, and BlackRock making similar applications recently. In the June 21 filing, Valkyrie revealed that it would seek to list its fund on the Nasdaq exchange under the clever ticker “BRRR”. 

Valkyrie Refiles For Physically Backed Bitcoin ETF With SEC

Valkyrie, which already offers a Bitcoin Strategy ETF and a Bitcoin Miners ETF, updated its filing for the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company’s filing states that “the Trust will hold bitcoin and will value its Shares daily based on the value of bitcoin as reflected by the Index, which is an independently calculated value based on an aggregation of executed trade flow of major bitcoin spot exchanges.”

The firm says the ETF will hold bitcoin to reflect the price of the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate – New York Variant (BRRNY), a figure estimated based on trading data collected across a number of leading bitcoin exchanges, including Coinbase, Bitstamp, Gemini, itBit, Kraken, and LMAX Digital. The filing notes that BRRNY is the exact figure that Bitcoin futures contracts are settled on, which trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Valkyrie’s fund ticker BRRR is known within the crypto community as the sweet, sweet sound made by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s money printer.

In its previous filing in January 2021, Valkyrie had proposed its fund be listed on NYSE Arca. But with the new prospectus, the firm is now looking at the Nasdaq.

The move comes after BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset management firm, applied for a spot ETF last week — a move that shook up the market. Another comically large financial services firm Invesco refiled for a spot bitcoin product on Tuesday. The less-comically large U.S.-based asset manager WisdomTree, also reapplied for permission to offer a physically-backed bitcoin ETF, after getting rejected by the SEC in 2022.

So far, the SEC hasn’t indicated when it plans to make an announcement regarding a bitcoin ETF. In fact, Grayscale has even sued the SEC over its denied bitcoin spot ETF. While the SEC has rejected all previous spot bitcoin ETF applications, market onlookers are liking BlackRock’s chances given its reputation and track record with the regulator.

Crypto Resurgence

Crypto prices have punched higher in the wake of BlackRock’s bid to establish the first spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. The top cryptocurrency has rocketed by over 20% to cross the $30,000 mark for the first time since April.

Bitcoin was lagging at the start of the year when it was changing hands at only $16,615 per coin. It’s now up over 80% since the beginning of 2023, suggesting big investors are feeling bullish about the dominant cryptocurrency — and the rest of the crypto market in general.

Nonetheless, BTC is still well below its $69,044.77 all-time high registered in November 2021.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ June 22, 2023 7:43 pm