US SEC Approves Options for BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted the Nasdaq exchange permission to list and trade options for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

In a notice dated September 20, the SEC approved options trading for the iShares Bitcoin Trust, which will trade under the ticker symbol IBIT on Nasdaq. The exchange will handle options for the Bitcoin ETF “in the same manner” as other ETF options, adhering to the same regulations.

“Options on IBIT will be physically settled with American-style exercise,” according to the SEC notice. This means that any assignment will be handled by the physical assignment of IBIT stock, which is the preferred option for assets like this. 

The exchange also indicated that options on IBIT will comply with its initial and ongoing listing standards, which require the underlying security to have a “substantial number of outstanding shares that are widely held and actively traded.”

As of now, it remains uncertain whether the SEC will approve options trading for spot Bitcoin ETFs on other U.S. exchanges. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas speculated on X (formerly Twitter) that more approvals could come soon.

“This is just one stage of approval; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also need to sign off before official listing,” Balchunas noted. “The timelines for those approvals are uncertain since they don’t operate under a fixed clock. Nonetheless, it’s a significant step that the SEC is moving forward.”

On August 5, trading volume for the IBIT Bitcoin ETF surpassed $875 million, while total trading volume for all spot Bitcoin investment vehicles exceeded $1.3 billion. Nasdaq has also filed with the SEC to allow options trading for spot Ethereum ETFs on the exchange.