OCTA: Things Are Melting Up Quietly 
The biggest asset management firm in the world is naming banking giant JPMorgan and trading firm Jane Street as authorized participants for its spot market Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) bid.
According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, BlackRock updated its S-1 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – the form for the initial registration of new securities – and named JPMorgan and Jane Street as authorized participants (APs).
An AP is an organization, typically a large bank, that has the power to create and redeem shares of a particular ETF.
Balchunas says that while the naming of APs isn’t required on S-1 filings, BlackRock adding them may have been a power play.
“Just to be clear: the AP names weren’t due in S-1s, so BlackRock adding them in there is a bit of a flex in that regard. So if we see other S-1s not naming AP doesn’t mean they don’t have one lined up. But this does make BlackRock the first horse officially ready in my opinion.”
BlackRock is not the only BTC ETF hopeful to name its APs.
Valkyrie named both Jane Street and asset management firm Cantor Fitzgerald as its APs, while Fidelity also chose Jane Street as an AP.
Meanwhile, ETF-issuer WisdomTree designated Jane Street as its AP, while investment management firm Invesco cited JPMorgan and financial firm Virtu as its APs.
Spot market BTC ETFs are slated to be approved or denied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sometime in January 2024.
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