Two weeks after BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF application, Boston-based financial services giant Fidelity is trying its luck with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — again.

Fidelity Officially Reenters The Ring

Fidelity, a notable asset management company with at least $11.1 trillion in assets under administration, has refiled paperwork for its Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, joining a long list of spot bitcoin ETF hopefuls.

As per a filing by Cboe BZX Exchange with the SEC dated June 19, Fidelity said its spot BTC offering would help investors in the U.S. avoid risk.

“To this point, the lack of a Spot Bitcoin ETP exposes U.S. investor assets to significant risk because investors that would otherwise seek crypto asset exposure through a Spot Bitcoin ETP are forced to find alternative exposure through generally riskier means,” the filing stated, adding that investors have previously stored their assets on now-defunct cryptocurrency exchanges like FTX.

Fidelity’s application bears a striking resemblance to BlackRock’s and ARK Invest’s as it includes the “surveillance sharing agreement” with an unspecified United States spot-based bitcoin trading platform. The purpose of this key aspect is to help alleviate SEC concerns regarding market manipulation.

Race For Spot ETF Heats Up Amid Growing Institutional Interest

Fidelity’s application comes after the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock filed paperwork with the SEC for a spot BTC ETF on June 15. The BlackRock news sent shockwaves throughout the cryptocurrency market, enticing more financial institutions, including Invesco, Wisdom Tree, Valkyrie, and ARK Invest to hop on the crypto wagon and submit similar applications in the following days. Like these firms, Fidelity was making a second shot at a spot bitcoin product after the SEC denied its first application in 2021. 

While the SEC approved the first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF last week, the agency is yet to decide on any of the new spot ETF filings. Notably, most crypto observers are optimistic about BlackRock’s application owing to its sheer financial power and the fact that the investment giant has received a green light for all of its previous 575 ETF applications except one. Additionally, hopes are high for BlackRock, seeing that Grayscale may likely win its suit against the SEC for denying its spot bitcoin ETF request.

Institutional investors appear hungry for such spot crypto ETFs, pundits claim, because it would let them be involved with Bitcoin without worrying about storing the asset.

All these major traditional investment companies filing applications for spot bitcoin ETFs with the SEC have catalyzed bitcoin’s steady rise past the psychologically important $30,000 level. The largest crypto by market cap is changing hands at $30,819.93 at publication time, with a 0.8% gain.