BlackRock's Revised Bitcoin ETF Filing Opens Doors for U.S. Banks

• BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Opens Door for Wall Street Banks
• Binance and Founder Dispute SEC's Howey Test Requirements
• Justin Sun Assures Safety of Assets on HTX and Poloniex

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Opens Door for Wall Street Banks

BlackRock has altered the mechanics of its proposed spot Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) to enable Wall Street banks, which face restrictions holding cryptocurrencies, to play a key role. The recent change allows authorized participants (APs), a critical component of the ETF ecosystem, to create new fund shares with cash instead of only with cryptocurrency. Due to regulations, U.S. banks cannot hold bitcoin themselves, but this new setup would allow major firms like JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs to act as APs for BlackRock's ETF. The cash used by APs can be converted into bitcoin by an intermediary and stored by the ETF's custody provider, according to a memo filing related to a meeting on November 28 involving the Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock, and Nasdaq.

Binance and Founder Dispute SEC's Howey Test Requirements

In a new filing on Tuesday, Binance, Binance.US, and founder Changpeng Zhao disputed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met the requirements of the Howey Test in its lawsuit against the two companies and their founder. Binance and Zhao, along with Binance.US, submitted their responses claiming that the SEC failed to demonstrate that the exchanges' U.S. customers had contracts that would meet the definition of an investment contract. They also argued that other elements of the Supreme Court case were unmet. This is the latest effort to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the federal regulator in June, when the SEC alleged that Binance and Binance.US allowed the public to purchase and trade unregistered securities by listing certain cryptocurrencies and providing a staking service.

Justin Sun Assures Safety of Assets on HTX and Poloniex

Justin Sun, a renowned figure in the crypto industry, has reassured users that assets held on HTX and Poloniex are 100% safe, following a hack last month that resulted in the theft of over $200 million from the exchanges. Both exchanges have resumed withdrawals for certain assets, while several altcoins remain locked. Bitcoin (BTC) and Tron (TRX) are the two digital assets that can be withdrawn. This situation has caused both tokens to trade at a premium on Poloniex over the past few weeks, leading to users potentially taking a loss of up to 10% to liquidate their assets and withdraw another. This lockdown was a reaction to the theft of $114 million from Poloniex's hot wallets on November 10, which was followed by the theft of $97 million from HTX and the Heco Chain blockchain protocol.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker