BlackRock’s IBTC back on DTCC after vanishing early Tuesday

BlackRock’s proposed iShares Bitcoin ETF, with the ticker IBTC, is back on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation website after vanishing early Tuesday.

IBTC originally appeared on the DTCC website on Monday, sending bitcoin rallying. Late Monday, bitcoin briefly topped $35,000 before falling back around $33,000.

Eagle-eyed crypto investors, eager for nibbles of news around the spot bitcoin ETFs, first noticed the listing. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas commented on X, saying that BlackRock’s listing was “notable” due to BlackRock not only being the first to list on DTCC, but also leading “the charge on these logistics (seeder, ticker, dtcc).”

Note: Seeding is typically not a lot of money just enough to get ETF going. So I wouldn’t read this as ‘omg Blackrock is buying a ton of bitcoin’ at all but more the fact they doing it and disclosing it shows another step in the process of launching.

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 23, 2023

Normally, these steps are taken right before launch, he said.

After IBTC disappeared from the DTCC website, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart speculated that the US Securities and Exchange Commission “made a call to BlackRock.”

When Blockworks reached out to both the SEC and BlackRock about IBTC’s status on the DTCC website, both declined to comment.

BlackRock noted that it’s still within the regulatory agency’s “filing restriction period.”

Following the Tuesday vanishing act, Balchunas said that he was “not totally shocked.”

Balchunas also said that it wasn’t just the DTCC listing that was surprising, but “having a ticker ready and the Oct seeding that gave off a pre-launch crossing t’s and dotting i’s vibe.”

Van Buren Capital’s Scott Johnsson, earlier Tuesday, posted on X saying, “not sure [BlackRock] were aware how closely they were going to be followed through this process. I mean, they should have been.”

Bitcoin (BTC) legged up slightly following the DTCC relisting, heading to $34,000 at time of publishing.

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