Cboe Global Markets, an exchange operator, has made amendments to five spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications to include a supervisory sharing agreement (SSA) with Coinbase. The amendments were submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 11 for ETFs proposed by Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and the joint fund of ARK Invest and 21Shares. Cboe stated that it had reached an agreement with Coinbase on the terms of the SSA, which was finalized on June 21.
The inclusion of the SSA is in line with the SEC's requirements aimed at preventing fraud and safeguarding investors. The regulatory authority had outlined on March 10 that exchanges would need to have comprehensive oversight sharing agreements with regulated markets associated with the underlying or reference bitcoin assets. The initial filings for the ETFs had already anticipated the execution of an SSA before the possible offering of the ETFs.
Bitcoin spot ETF applications have gained significant attention in the industry recently. Fidelity, Invesco, Wisdom Tree, Valkyrie, and BlackRock, a $10 trillion asset manager, have all filed ETF applications with the SEC. Nasdaq, the US stock exchange, also resubmitted its listing application for the BlackRock ETF on June 29, which also included the SSA with Coinbase. The involvement of Coinbase in the bitcoin ETF application has led to a notable increase in Coinbase (COIN) shares, rising nearly 10% on June 11 to their highest price since August 16, according to Google Finance.
It is worth noting that despite its participation in the bitcoin ETF application, Coinbase is currently engaged in a lawsuit against the SEC. The company charges that it offered cryptocurrencies that regulators believe are unregistered securities, highlighting ongoing legal challenges in the cryptocurrency industry.
