BlackRock Names Coinbase ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner

An updated filing for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF includes a “surveillance sharing agreement” with crypto exchange Coinbase.

A June 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), resubmitted by Nasdaq, includes details of an agreement between the stock exchange and Coinbase.

The Spot Bitcoin surveillance sharing agreement (SSA) would give the Nasdaq supplemental access to Bitcoin trade data on Coinbase, with the option to request further information to detect potential market manipulation.

JUST IN: BlackRock has re-filed for spot bitcoin ETF, the resubmission was dated 6/29, Nasdaq just posted tho. They just added Coinbase like everyone else. pic.twitter.com/UGq46DdLgu

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) July 3, 2023

Last week, ARK Investment Management amended its spot Bitcoin ETF application to include a surveillance sharing agreement between Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) and a U.S.-based crypto exchange. 

At the time, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas speculated on Twitter that the unnamed exchange was most likely Coinbase. If ARK’s SSA is in fact with Coinbase, it would likely be in direct conflict with BlackRock’s ETF application, according to some market participants. 

“Have to assume BlackRock was already well aware of ARK’s filing…They’re not rolling out the red carpet for another issuer. Guessing Coinbase enters into SSA w/ Nasdaq first (and maybe only – at least initially),” tweeted Nate Geraci, co-founder of The ETF Institute.

As the race to launch the first spot Bitcoin ETF has been building up, the SEC’s stance on approving these products to trade remains relatively unchanged. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the regulator deemed the newly filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications to be inadequate without the name of specific surveillance sharing partners.