The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq’s proposal to list and trade options for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to a Sept. 20 notice, the SEC cleared the way for options trading on the iShares Bitcoin Trust, which will trade under the ticker symbol IBIT.
Nasdaq stated that the exchange will treat options on the Bitcoin ETF similarly to other ETF options, adhering to the same rules and trading procedures. “Options on IBIT will be physically settled with American-style exercise,” according to the SEC’s notice. This means that the options can be exercised at any time before expiration.
The listing will follow the exchange’s initial and continued listing standards, which require that the underlying security for a listed option must have a substantial number of outstanding shares that are widely held and actively traded.
Earlier in August, US-based Cboe Exchange filed an amended application with regulators to list options on Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The applications propose listing options tied to ETFs from asset managers like Fidelity, 21Shares, Invesco, VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock’s iShares, and Valkyrie.
The proposed rule change would classify these spot cryptocurrency ETFs alongside commodities-based ETFs like the Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF and the iShare Silver Trust as “securities deemed appropriate for options trading.”
The move follows Nasdaq’s announcement on August 27 to list Bitcoin options tied to the CME CF Bitcoin Real-Time Index (BRTI), which benchmarks BTC’s spot price.
In recent months, several exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) American and Nasdaq International Securities Exchange (ISE) have pulled their applications for Bitcoin options. On August 8, Cboe withdrew its earlier application for BTC ETF options but has now refiled with a wider scope.
Options contracts provide the right to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price, functioning as a hedge or a speculative instrument. Interest in cryptocurrency derivatives on regulated exchanges is growing in the U.S. As of August 9, open options interest on BTC futures ETFs surpassed $3.25 billion, according to data from The Options Clearing Corporation.
Plans to list Solana (SOL) ETFs also remain active. VanEck’s plans for a Solana ETF are “still in play,” despite Cboe Global Markets withdrawing a regulatory filing proposing to list the fund on its exchange, according to VanEck’s head of digital assets research.
The SEC’s stance on Solana was not unexpected, as the agency previously labeled Solana as a security in various court filings. Issuers are now considering new filings or amendments to the 19b-4 forms to argue more effectively that Solana should not be classified as a security.
While Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have successfully cleared regulatory hurdles and started trading, market analysts have remained skeptical about the chances for Solana ETFs.
