BlackRock is reportedly planning to acquire $10 million worth of BTC as initial funding for its potential spot Bitcoin ETF, still currently under review for approval from the SEC.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and one of the front-runners in the race to issue the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, is expected to purchase $10 million worth of Bitcoin
$43,109 on Jan. 3, according to analysts.
On Dec. 23, market research analyst James Seyffart posted on X (formerly Twitter), highlighting BlackRock’s intentions to seed its ETF with the Bitcoin it plans to purchase.
Seyffart followed up on the post by saying that the document that mentions the BTC purchase is not final, approved, or “effective” — though the purchase would “jive with our Jan. approval prediction.”
He said that an injection of capital wouldn’t necessarily mean the launch of the ETF but that BlackRock could be expecting a release shortly after. According to Seyffart, the inclusion of the Jan. 3 date is just “teasing,” and he drew the parallel to the date being that of the genesis block of Bitcoin.
A user on X asked Seyffart if $10 million is the seed size he would expect, to which Seyffart responded that it’s “fairly standard” but is also “subject to change.”
In late December, Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg analyst, also posted about the anticipated purchase on Jan 3., saying that BlackRock’s $10 million BTC purchase would be a “pretty big bump” from its initial $100,000 seed funding back in October.
Balchunas also posted about Bitwise’s Form S-1 being filed, with Bitwise intending to seed its pending spot Bitcoin ETF with $200 million, which Balchunas said “blows away” what BlackRock plans to purchase.
“That’s gonna be a huge help in the early days of the race. No AP named but prob forthcoming.”
While Jan. 3 has been predicted as the date for BlackRock purchasing its Bitcoin seed funding, there have also been multiple alternative reports stating the date has been pushed back to Jan. 5. Both dates are still speculative.
Cointelegraph reached out to BlackRock for further information on the matter and has yet to receive a response.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission set the deadline for amendments to spot Bitcoin ETF applications for Dec. 29, 2023, with BlackRock, Van Eck and Valkyrie all filing last-minute amendments.
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