Jane Street named as authorized participant by all 11 bitcoin ETF hopefuls

Potential ETF issuers are in a race to the finish line — if the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the ETFs, of course. 

On Monday, most of the prospective funds filed updated S-1s with the SEC. While the S-1s aren’t indicative of approval and aren’t even the final step in the ETF process for these firms, they give a glimpse into who’s involved in the funds and what fees they plan to charge. 

A detail seen as important as the race hits the home stretch are authorized participants. An authorized participant is able to both create and redeem shares of an ETF, which can then be exchanged for either a basket of securities reflecting the holdings of the ETF or for cash. 

On Friday, the stock exchanges tapped by the potential bitcoin ETFs — Cboe, Nasdaq and NYSE — filed updated 19b-4s on behalf of the proposals . The updates come as industry watchers look ahead to Jan. 10: the SEC’s deadline to make a decision on the proposed ETF by Ark 21Shares.

At the end of December, a number of the final bitcoin ETF hopefuls named APs in amended disclosure filings. However the most recent amendments give a fuller picture of who plans to be involved with these ETFs if they launch.

Read more: Bitcoin ETF planned fees revealed: BlackRock goes low, Grayscale stays high

Jane Street was named either initially or in the amended filing by every single potential issuer. Even Hashdex, which hasn’t filed an amendment yet, will tap Jane Street as an AP, a person familiar with Hashdex’s filing told Blockworks. 

The company declined to comment. 

There are 11 proposals to launch funds once the SEC signs off — if the agency chooses to give them a green light. That includes Hashdex, BlackRock, Ark 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, Bitwise, VanEck, Valkyrie, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale and WisdomTree.

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, named JPMorgan Securities , Virtu Americas and Macquarie Capital as APs outside of Jane Street. Ark 21Shares also named Virtu and Macquarie.

Grayscale said Macquarie — obviously another popular AP among the bunch — will act as an AP alongside Virtu, Jane Street and ABN AMRO. Bitwise, WisdomTree named three: Virtu, Macquarie and Jane Street.

VanEck also tapped Virtu and ABN AMRO. 

Invesco, which previously disclosed JPMorgan Securities and Virtu, named Jane Street and Marex in its newest amendment. Fidelity follows in similar steps with four APs, though it named Macquarie instead of Marex.

Valkyrie’s APs remained unchanged in its newest amendment, with the firm only disclosing Jane Street and Cantor Fitzgerald. Franklin Templeton also only named two — though Monday’s amendment was the first time the firm disclosed APs. It listed Virtu alongside Jane Street.

Ben Strack contributed reporting.

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