According to Cointelegraph: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared on December 29th as the ultimate deadline for spot Bitcoin ETF applicants to file their final S-1 amendments. This includes the signing of agreements with authorized participants (AP) and compliance with the cash-create redemption model it endorses.
As per the Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, the SEC, in its quest for more control, desires to minimize the number of intermediaries in the spot Bitcoin ETFs. Hence, the regulator demonstrated a strong preference for the cash-create redemption model, opposing the widespread in-kind creation.
As of December 22nd, half of the filings had complied with the cash-create model while the remaining included both cash-create and in-kind models in their registration statements. The final status of these amendments would hint at the potential spot Bitcoin ETF applicants making it to the first wave of possible approvals in early 2023.
The in-kind creation model usually involves middlemen providing assets like Bitcoin to firms to create new ETF shares. But in the cash model, these intermediaries are minimal, making the system "a little more controllable," according to Balchunas. This method is less vulnerable to issues like money laundering.
However, apart from settling the redemption models, the applicants must also confirm their AP by the deadlines which were not specified in the latest filings of some organizations like ARK and 21Shares.
