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UNCHAINED: Why Some Brokerage Firms Are Blocking Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs

CoinDesk Podcast Network

CoinDesk

Business News, Daily News, News, Tech News

4.7698 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Three ETF experts discuss all things Bitcoin ETF, from record-high trading volumes to how the SEC botched the approval and roll-out process to brokerages blocking customer purchases.  Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably heard that spot Bitcoin ETFs were finally approved by the SEC this week. That set the stage for 11 such offerings from the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, and ARK 21Shares to begin trading on Thursday. On this episode of Unchained, Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store; Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence; and James Seyffart, research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence discussed the initial record trading volumes, the mechanics of how the funds work, the botched roll-out process, the pointed commentary from SEC commissioners, the potential for future Ethereum spot ETFs and predictions for total inflows. Plus, they explain why brokerage firms like Vanguard, Merrill and others were blocking customer access to the ETFs. Show highlights: The initial impact and trading volumes on the launch day of the ETFs How BlackRock’s ETF, IBIT, had a lot of volume in pre-market and what that means Why Eric was surprised that BlackRock proceeded with a waiver for its ETF, but realized that it was “genius marketing” Whether there’s a problem that ETFs don’t trade 24/7, unlike BTC itself Why James says the spot ETFs are not going to have significant premiums or discounts to NAV  What the percentage premium is and how it will play out with spot Bitcoin ETFs Whether the SEC will ever allow in-kind creation and redemption Why Nate and Eric believe that the SEC’s denials of spot Bitcoin ETFs for a decade was “completely suboptimal” for retail investors How the SEC commissioners pointedly disagreed with each other in their comments and dissents The politics of the approval process Whether Ethereum spot ETFs will be approved next Why some big platforms and brokerages are not offering the spot Bitcoin ETFs How RIAs will respond to the ETF and whether there’s going to be mainstream adoption by advisors Thank you to our sponsors!  Arbitrum Foundation  | Popcorn Network  | iTrustCapital Guests:  James Seyffart, Research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Previous appearances on Unchained: Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10 Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Previous appearances on Unchained: Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved? Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store Links Previous coverage of Unchained on spot Bitcoin ETFs: The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection The Chopping Block: Are We Back? The ‘Low IQ’ Response to the Potential Spot Bitcoin ETF - Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC.  Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:49.8

Thanks for listening to Unchained, your no-hype resource for all things crypto, on the Coin Desk

0:54.9

Podcast Network. You can also listen to the episodes on the Unchained feed earlier if you subscribe there.

1:01.5

Plus, check out all our content on our website, Unchained Crypto.com.

1:06.5

If you're a regular listener of Unchained, there's a really easy way to show your support and help us grow.

1:12.4

Download the Fountain app on iOS or Android, follow Unchained, and start listening.

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You can share your thoughts on this episode by sending a boost, which is a payment with a message,

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and see what other listeners have to say or create clips of the best moments.

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It's a no-brainer. Follow the link in the show notes or visit Fountain.fm to learn more.

1:41.0

My advocacy around Bitcoin ETFs is that if we look historically at the ways retail investors

1:48.1

have been provided access to Bitcoin, they have all been completely suboptimal.

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