Cboe ‘reached an agreement on terms’ with Coinbase for bitcoin ETFs

Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), an exchange seeking approval from the SEC to list several spot bitcoin ETFs, has resubmitted its applications with slight amendments regarding its surveillance-sharing agreement with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The amendments appear to signal Cboe’s attempt to mirror language already included in filings by rival exchange Nasdaq, which would list the spot bitcoin ETFs for BlackRock and Valkyrie, if approved.

Cboe is the planned listing exchange for proposed bitcoin products by 21Shares (in tandem with Ark Invest), as well as for similar offerings by Fidelity, WisdomTree, VanEck and Invesco.

In earlier filings, the exchange had indicated its intention to establish a surveillance-sharing agreement (SSA) with a US-based spot trading platform for bitcoin, and subsequently specified that Coinbase would be the platform involved.

Now, Cboe filings appear to have been amended to note that the exchange “reached an agreement on terms” with Coinbase to enter into an SSA.

Coinbase’s stock price was up about 10% on the day late Tuesday morning.

Spokespeople for Cboe and Coinbase did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart noted Cboe’s amendments in a Tuesday tweet, adding that the filings also now note Cboe and Coinbase “will finalize and execute a definitive agreement that the parties expect to be executed prior to allowing trading of the commodity-based trust shares.”

Though the language in the Cboe filings are now in line with that within Nasdaq’s filing for the BlackRock spot bitcoin ETF, Seyffart said in a separate tweet that Nasdaq “seems to be farther along than Cboe/others even with these updates.”

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According to a filing made by Nasdaq on June 29 regarding the BlackRock filing, the exchange stated that it had “reached an agreement on terms” with Coinbase on June 8, and the corresponding term sheet became effective on June 16. In the Cboe filings, it is mentioned that similar agreements with Coinbase were reached on June 21.

The Cboe amendments come nearly a month after BlackRock — a multi-national investment company with roughly $9 trillion in assets under management — shocked many by entering the race to launch a spot bitcoin ETF. This development prompted several issuers who had previously attempted, but failed, to introduce such ETFs to renew their efforts.

Morgan Creek Capital founder Mark Yusko said during an On the Margin podcast that the SEC could allow BlackRock to launch first.

Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, said last month the SEC should approve all the spot bitcoin ETF proposals at once.

“Given the nearly identical ETF applications submitted, we believe all issuers should have the same timeline to a bitcoin spot ETF,” Sigel tweeted at the time. “Stop picking winners!”

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