Latest Developments in Bitcoin ETF Grayscale Updates Trust Agreement Another Institution Submits Application BlackRock Meets with SEC

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Grayscale Updates Trust Agreement
The 13th Institution Submits Bitcoin ETF Application
BlackRock Meets with SEC
Analyst: Probability of Approval by January 10th Remains at 90%
Grayscale Asset Management Company submitted an update to the trust agreement of GBTC yesterday, marking the first update to the GBTC agreement since 2018. These changes involve fee structures and how assets are custodied to facilitate a smoother creation and redemption of shares. The goal is to optimize the structure of the GBTC product to facilitate its transition to a Bitcoin spot ETF.
The updates to GBTC will be submitted to shareholders for voting, including two proposed amendments:
Changing the management fee from monthly to daily, which is just a structural adjustment and not a reduction in fees. Although Grayscale has committed to lowering the management fee, the final plan has not yet been determined. (Grayscale currently charges a 2% management fee for GBTC, while the management fee range for companies submitting Bitcoin spot ETFs is between 0.7% and 1%).
The second update planned for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) will allow different assets to be merged into a unified account. This can make the issuance and redemption of shares in the ETF more efficient.
Swiss asset management company Pando recently submitted an S-1 document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch the Pando Asset Spot Bitcoin Trust. Like other ETFs in the application, the trust aims to track the price of Bitcoin and hold Bitcoin on behalf of the trust through Coinbase’s custody service department.
Pando’s entry makes it the 13th institution to apply for a Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States. However, the market’s reaction to Pando’s sudden entry is more skeptical than excited. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas expressed on social media yesterday that he does not understand why Pando waited so long to submit the application.
On the other hand, the Trading and Markets Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission met again with executives from BlackRock and Jane Street on November 28th to discuss their ETF applications. According to information shared by Eric Balchunas, BlackRock proposed a revision to the redemption model in response to concerns raised by the SEC earlier about the impact and risks of brokers handling overseas crypto transactions.
Eric Balchunas explained that since brokers cannot directly handle Bitcoin, the revised model allows overseas entities to acquire Bitcoin from Coinbase and pre-pay cash to U.S.-registered brokers.
Investors are eagerly awaiting whether a Bitcoin ETF will be approved. Eric Balchunas stated that he still maintains his original prediction, with a 90% probability of approval by January 10th.