Why Some Brokerage Firms Are Blocking Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs

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.

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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

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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.

HOST

Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.