Fidelity Renews Its Bid for A Spot Bitcoin ETF

Fidelity, a leading asset management firm, has resubmitted its application to list and trade the shares of its Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, a spot Bitcoin ETF, according to a filing by Cboe Global Markets with the SEC, the federal regulator of securities markets in the U.S.

The application follows a series of similar filings by other prominent asset managers, such as BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco and VanEck, who also seek to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs on different exchanges, such as Cboe BZX, Nasdaq and NYSE Arca. Fidelity had previously filed for the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust in 2021, but the SEC denied its approval in 2022.

Similar to BlackRock, Fidelity has included a surveillance sharing agreement with an undisclosed U.S.-based spot Bitcoin trading platform, which is intended to address the SEC's concerns about potential market manipulation and fraud in the underlying Bitcoin market.

Fidelity also highlighted the risks faced by crypto investors due to the insolvencies of several custodians and centralized exchanges in the past, and argued that a spot Bitcoin ETF would provide a safer and more regulated access to the crypto asset class for countless investors.

The SEC has not yet issued any ruling on the new filings.