WisdomTree Adds Coinbase as Custodian for Bitcoin ETF

America’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been again chosen by one of the contenders in the spot Bitcoin ETF race. 

New York asset manager WisdomTree submitted a revised version of its application to the Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund yesterday.  

In it, the firm, which has nearly $97 billion in assets under management, noted that Coinbase would be the custodian for the product. 

San Francisco-based Coinbase is already custodian and surveillance-sharing partner for other applicants—Fidelity, VanEck, Ark Invest’s 21Shares, Valkyrie, and Invesco—including most notably BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager.

In July, The Wall Street titan selected Coinbase to be both custodian and surveillance-sharing partner in a revised filing following its original June application. 

As a custodian, Coinbase would take care of storing the digital coins backing the fund’s shares. Surveillance-sharing refers to the activity of sharing information about trading, clearing activity, and customer identification to reduce the risks of market manipulation. 

Traditional finance firms applying for a Bitcoin ETF have selected Coinbase because they see it as a trusted and legit institution: the crypto exchange went public on the Nasdaq two years ago and is the biggest digital asset brand in the States. 

An eight-day window opened last week in which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could approve the long-list of spot Bitcoin ETF applications sitting on its desk but the deadline passed today; it delayed two applications, putting on hold approval. 

The SEC has until January 15 to approve or deny WisdomTree’s Bitcoin Trust.