The Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed deciding whether to allow options trading on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust.

A Wednesday filing shows that Wall Street's top regulator "finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action" on the proposal from the Nasdaq. It said it would issue a decision on April 24.

The SEC yesterday separately pushed back a decision on a proposal from Cboe Exchange to list and trade options on spot bitcoin ETFs.

In January, the SEC approved 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after a decade of denying applications.

Now, exchanges are hoping to allow traders to buy and sell options on the products after a terrific month and a half of trading volume and inflows.

Options give the holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price by a set date.

Crypto ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to digital assets without the need to buy and store the crypto themselves.

They simply buy shares that track the underlying asset while the fund manager takes care of storage of the security or commodity.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has been one of the most successful Bitcoin ETFs as it receives record levels of inflows and traders up shares of the product faster than the other products.

On Tuesday, IBIT hit a new trading day record, attracting close to $3.8 billion in volume.

Source : Decrypt / March 7, 2024