The recently updated SEC filing shows that BlackRock received $100,000 in seed funding from an unknown investor for its spot Bitcoin ETF.
According to the filing, the seed capital investor purchased a lot of 4,000 trust shares at a price of $25 on October 27, 2023. “The Seed Capital Investor will act as a statutory underwriter in connection with this purchase,” said the filing.
The firm also plans to pay a sponsor fee to the lender when it borrows Bitcoin or cash in the form of trade credit. The filing says that BlackRock can charge a fee via a loan instead of selling BTC to avoid an impact on its price.
BlackRock is the largest and one of the first institutional giants among dozens of other applicants to the SEC for spot Bitcoin ETFs. The firm is issuing its ETF under “iShares Bitcoin Trust,” which will invest directly in Bitcoin rather than its underlying futures. The asset manager just submitted an updated version of its spot BTC ETF filing earlier today.
