Ark Invest, one of the companies favorably positioned to set up a Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) linked to Bitcoin, amended its application to the DRY to add a surveillance sharing agreement. This decision was made a week after BlackRock filed its own Bitcoin ETF, which included such a deal.
ARK Adds Information Sharing Agreement In Its Application To Create A Bitcoin ETF
As a reminder, an agreement to share surveillance relates to information that is reported to regulators in order to prevent potential market manipulation. This may involve retrieving all data relating to trading activity but also to identification of all customers.
Since Ark Invest’s proposal was filed with the SEC in April 2023almost two months before BlackRock’s request, today’s revision could allow Ark Invest to cross the final stretch before the other firms.
However, it is important to note that the SEC was adamant that none of the candidates had demonstrated that they could adequately protect all of its investors. For the American regulatory agency, the priority therefore always remains focused on defending users against a possible series of fraudulent maneuvers.
According to today’s filing, the agreement referred to as the Spot BTC SSA is concluded between Ark InvestTHE Chicago Board Options (CBOE) BZX Exchangeand another unnamed crypto trading platform.
This change is particularly important because previous applications for the creation of a Bitcoin-linked ETF did not include any trace of a surveillance sharing agreement. As a result, these have all been rejected by regulatory agencies.
It is also for this reason that BlackRock caught the attention of a large part of the ecosystem when the firm has made the decision to include such an agreement last week when applying for a Bitcoin ETF.
Founded in 2014 by the famous Cathie Wood, Ark Invest is a company based in the United States and specialized in investment management. Valued at more than $14.11 billion in 2023the firm had already applied for the creation of a Bitcoin ETF in the month of June 2021 with a partner company named 21Shares, however this request was rejected by the SEC at the beginning of the year.
Source: Ark Invest