BlackRock Insider: Bitcoin ETF May Take Another 6 Months

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) could be approved by February, citing news from BlackRock and Invesco.

“This is a big deal because the people we’ve been connected to from both Invesco and BlackRock have you thinking it’s a matter of when, not if — it could be six months,” Novogratz told shareholders during Galaxy’s second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 8, in which the digital asset company reported a net loss of $46 million.

“If you had to ‘pin the tail on the donkey,’ it could take four to six months before the SEC approves a bitcoin ETF.”

Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital is one of many contenders for a spot Bitcoin ETF, having reapplied for a Bitcoin ETF in June along with Invesco, the fourth-largest ETF issuer in the U.S. and a $1.5 trillion asset manager.

In his speech to shareholders, Novogratz said he would not comment on the expected timing of the ETF's approval because it was unclear whether the ETF would be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, Novogratz believes that once approved, spot Bitcoin ETF issuers such as BlackRock and Invesco will do their best to compete for market share.

“The news of BlackRock filing an ETF, and frankly, Invesco Plus Galaxy, once it gets approved, we’re going to be fighting like cats and dogs to win market share there.”

Galaxy Digital President Chris Ferraro added in response to a question that he would not be surprised if the SEC ultimately approved a potential Bitcoin ETF to avoid being labeled an “obstructionist.”

“I think that’s what’s potentially going on with the ETF approval, you can’t call us anti-crypto, we just got an ETF approved. So we hope the same is true with our application,” Ferraro said.

ETFs may come sooner

Meanwhile, some analysts believe that the spot Bitcoin ETF wave may come faster, depending on the judge’s ruling in Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC.

Last year, Grayscale sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for rejecting its application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a spot ETF.

Analysts believe that if the SEC loses its lawsuit against Grayscale, the path of least resistance will be to approve multiple or all spot Bitcoin ETF applicants at the same time.