The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken a significant step in the consideration of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by accepting applications from six prominent firms, including BlackRock.

This marks the initial phase of the SEC’s evaluation process for the latest round of proposals.

Notably, the SEC has also acknowledged applications from Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Invesco for similar spot bitcoin ETFs. The proposals were officially listed in the Federal Register recently.

In the past, the SEC rejected numerous spot bitcoin ETF applications due to concerns about meeting anti-fraud and investor protection standards.

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However, Nasdaq, where BlackRock intends to list its ETF, has addressed these concerns by partnering with Coinbase, the largest US-based crypto exchange, to supervise trading in the underlying bitcoin market.

CBOE Global Markets has also proposed a comparable surveillance arrangement.

It is worth mentioning that the first bitcoin futures ETF was approved in October 2021, significantly impacting bitcoin’s value, which reached an all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021.