Pando Asset Enters Spot Bitcoin ETF Race While Blackrock And SEC Meet Again

Updated: 30 November 2023

Disclosure

Don’t invest unless prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, you shouldn’t expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

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Swiss fund manager Pando Asset became the latest firm seeking approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) in the US.

The pending Pando Asset Spot Bitcoin Trust, if approved, will trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange. Coinbase, the leading U.S. crypto exchange, will serve as the custodian, while CME’s CF Bitcoin Reference Rate will be used for pricing.

Pando filed an S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 29.

This is not Pando’s first exchange traded product. The company’s website shows that it already offers exchange traded products to its European clients on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

BlackRock Met With SEC About Bitcoin ETF Application

In other news, the SEC on Tuesday had meetings with representatives from both Invesco and BlackRock, according to documents on the agency’s website.

The regulator also moved applications from Franklin Templeton and Hashdex into a public comment period. Some analysts say that the SEC could be accelerating the speed of the review process.

Although anticipation surrounding spot Bitcoin ETFs receiving approval in the U.S. continues to grow, the SEC has yet to approve one.

So far, the regulator has opted to delay applications it received from heavy weight asset management firms that include BlackRock, Fidelity, and Ark Invest.

BlackRock Proposes Bitcoin ETF Solution

In a memorandum published by the SEC, BlackRock had the following to say about the meeting:

“During our 11/20 meeting with Trading & Markets staff, we understood the SEC has certain unresolved questions around the In-kind model relating to balance sheet impacts and risks to the Market Maker’s U.S. Registered Broker/Dealer entity (“MM-BD”, as distinct from the Market Maker’s unregistered entity (“MM-crypto”)) during the redemption flow.”

The asset management titan then proposed a solution that could address these concerns.

If the only issue here is the balance sheet of the US BD market maker, than BlackRock's proposal *should* satisfy the concern. The only difference with the prior in-kind model is creating a cash receivable from the off-shore MM to the on-shore MM and then transferring the cash…

— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) November 29, 2023

Scott Johnsson from Van Buren Capital speculated that BlackRock’s proposal “should” satisfy the concern brought forward by the SEC if the only issue is the balance sheet of the US BD market maker.