ARK Files Final Spot Bitcoin ETF Amendment Ahead Of SEC's Deadline

ARK Invest filed its final S-1 amendment for its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application ahead of a reported deadline set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Last week, it was reported that the SEC met with hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers to iron out details of their filings and inform them of a deadline for submitting amended proposals on Dec. 29.

The major Wall Street regulator, at the time, reportedly told issuers that proposals that did not meet the SEC's deadline would not be a part of the first batch of approved applications, which is believed to be announced in early January 2024.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, ARK Invest and 21 Shares filed the final S-1 registration of their ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF with the commission Thursday.

Balchunas shared that there are "a ton" of changes in ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF's amended proposal, but it is unclear if the issuer has already signed an agreement.

"ARK kicks off the S-1 Amendment-athon. Ahead of the pack as usual. Unclear yet what was changed tho, AP mentioned a ton but not named. Assuming that will prob come in the very final effective update just prior to launch. But we still don't know if they have signed agreement," Balchunas said in a post on X.

The SEC has a final deadline of Jan. 10 to approve or reject the ARK Invest and 21 Shares' spot Bitcoin ETF application.

On Wednesday, investment management firm ARK Invest offloaded all of its GBTC position and used half or around $100 million of the proceeds to purchase the BITO Bitcoin Futures ETF.

But ETF analysts believe that the BITO holdings might just be a temporary measure as ARK would use the proceeds from its sale of GBTC holding for the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF, which could put it ahead of other issuers because of the hundreds of millions of dollars injected into the fund.

Bitcoin, the world's largest crypto asset by market capitalization, was trading in the red zone at $42,479.30, with a 24-hour trading volume down by 13.24% at $22.43 billion as of 3:19 a.m. ET on Friday.

Bitcoin's latest price action represents a 0.93% drop in its value in the past 24 hours and a 3.15% loss over the last seven days.

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin's current circulating supply stands at 19.58 million BTC and its market cap is at $832.42 billion.