47176 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

21 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 

22 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(1). 

23 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(4). 

24Notwithstanding its immediate effectiveness, 

implementation of this rule change will be delayed 

until this change is deemed certified under 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Regulation 40.6. 25 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

inoperative provisions. These proposed 

changes are technical in nature and 

would not impact the rights or 

obligations of Clearing Members or 

other participants in a way that would 

benefit or disadvantage any participant 

versus another participant. Accordingly, 

OCC does not believe that the proposed 

corrections to its By-Laws and Rules 

have any impact, or impose any burden, 

on competition. 

(C) Clearing Agency’s Statement on 

Comments on the Proposed Rule 

Change Received From Members, 

Participants or Others 

Written comments were not and are 

not intended to be solicited with respect 

to the proposed rule change, and none 

have been received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A)(ii) 21

of the Act, and Rule 19b–4(f)(1) 22 and 

(f)(4) 23 thereunder, the proposed rule 

change is filed for immediate 

effectiveness. At any time within 60 

days of the filing of the proposed rule 

change, the Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is necessary or appropriate in the 

public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or otherwise in furtherance of 

the purposes of the Act. The proposal 

shall not take effect until all regulatory 

actions required with respect to the 

proposal are completed.24

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

OCC–2021–008 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–OCC–2021–008. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of OCC and on OCC’s website at 

https://www.theocc.com/CompanyInformation/Documents-and-Archives/ 

By-Laws-and-Rules. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change. Persons submitting 

comments are cautioned that we do not 

redact or edit personal identifying 

information from comment submissions. 

You should submit only information 

that you wish to make available 

publicly. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–OCC–2021–008 and should 

be submitted on or before September 13, 

2021. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.25

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–17966 Filed 8–20–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, 

August 26, 2021. 

PLACE: The meeting will be held via 

remote means and/or at the 

Commission’s headquarters, 100 F 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20549. 

STATUS: This meeting will be closed to 

the public. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Commissioners, Counsel to the 

Commissioners, the Secretary to the 

Commission, and recording secretaries 

will attend the closed meeting. Certain 

staff members who have an interest in 

the matters also may be present. 

In the event that the time, date, or 

location of this meeting changes, an 

announcement of the change, along with 

the new time, date, and/or place of the 

meeting will be posted on the 

Commission’s website at https://

www.sec.gov. 

The General Counsel of the 

Commission, or his designee, has 

certified that, in his opinion, one or 

more of the exemptions set forth in 5 

U.S.C. 552b(c)(3), (5), (6), (7), (8), 9(B) 

and (10) and 17 CFR 200.402(a)(3), 

(a)(5), (a)(6), (a)(7), (a)(8), (a)(9)(ii) and 

(a)(10), permit consideration of the 

scheduled matters at the closed meeting. 

The subject matter of the closed 

meeting will consist of the following 

topics: 

Institution and settlement of 

injunctive actions; 

Institution and settlement of 

administrative proceedings; 

Resolution of litigation claims; and 

Other matters relating to examinations 

and enforcement proceedings. 

At times, changes in Commission 

priorities require alterations in the 

scheduling of meeting agenda items that 

may consist of adjudicatory, 

examination, litigation, or regulatory 

matters. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

For further information; please contact 

Vanessa A. Countryman from the Office 

of the Secretary at (202) 551–5400. 

Dated: August 19, 2021. 

Vanessa A. Countryman, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18218 Filed 8–19–21; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–92689; File No. SR– 

CboeBZX–2021–052] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe 

BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of 

a Proposed Rule Change To List and 

Trade Shares of the Global X Bitcoin 

Trust Under BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4), 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares 

August 17, 2021. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 47177 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3The Trust was formed as a Delaware statutory 

trust on July 13, 2021 and is operated as a grantor 

trust for U.S. federal tax purposes. The Trust has 

no fixed termination date. 

4The Commission approved BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4) 

in Securities Exchange Act Release No. 65225 

(August 30, 2011), 76 FR 55148 (September 6, 2011) 

(SR–BATS–2011–018). 

5All statements and representations made in this 

filing regarding (a) the description of the portfolio, 

(b) limitations on portfolio holdings or reference 

assets, or (c) the applicability of Exchange rules and 

surveillance procedures shall constitute continued 

listing requirements for listing the Shares on the 

Exchange. 

6See Registration Statement on Form S–1, dated 

July 21, 2021 submitted to the Commission by the 

Sponsor on behalf of the Trust. The descriptions of 

the Trust, the Shares, and the Trust’s methodology 

for calculating net asset value contained herein are 

based, in part, on information in the Registration 

Statement. The Registration Statement is not yet 

effective and the Shares will not trade on the 

Exchange until such time that the Registration 

Statement is effective. 

7For additional information about bitcoin and the 

Bitcoin Network, see https://bitcoin.org/en/gettingstarted; https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/ 

articles/addressing-bitcoin-criticisms; and https://

www.vaneck.com/education/investment-ideas/ 

investing-in-bitcoin-and-digital-assets/. 

8See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 83723 

(July 26, 2018), 83 FR 37579 (August 1, 2018). This 

proposal was subsequently disapproved by the 

Commission. See Securities Exchange Act Release 

No. 83723 (July 26, 2018), 83 FR 37579 (August 1, 

2018) (the ‘‘Winklevoss Order’’). 

9 Digital assets that are securities under U.S. law 

are referred to throughout this proposal as ‘‘digital 

asset securities.’’ All other digital assets, including 

bitcoin, are referred to interchangeably as 

‘‘cryptocurrencies’’ or ‘‘virtual currencies.’’ The 

term ‘‘digital assets’’ refers to all digital assets, 

including both digital asset securities and 

cryptocurrencies, together. 

10See ‘‘In the Matter of Coinflip, Inc.’’ 

(‘‘Coinflip’’) (CFTC Docket 15–29 (September 17, 

2015)) (order instituting proceedings pursuant to 

Sections 6(c) and 6(d) of the CEA, making findings 

and imposing remedial sanctions), in which the 

CFTC stated: 

‘‘Section 1a(9) of the CEA defines ‘commodity’ to 

include, among other things, ‘all services, rights, 

and interests in which contracts for future delivery 

are presently or in the future dealt in.’ 7 U.S.C. 

1a(9). The definition of a ‘commodity’ is broad. See, 

e.g., Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. SEC, 677 

F. 2d 1137, 1142 (7th Cir. 1982). Bitcoin and other 

virtual currencies are encompassed in the definition 

and properly defined as commodities.’’ 

11A list of virtual currency businesses that are 

entities regulated by the NYDFS is available on the 

NYDFS website. See https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_

and_licensing/virtual_currency_businesses/ 

regulated_entities. 

12 Data as of March 31, 2016 according to publicly 

available filings. See Bitcoin Investment Trust Form 

S–1, dated May 27, 2016, available: https://

www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1588489/ 

000095012316017801/filename1.htm. 

13See letter from Dalia Blass, Director, Division 

of Investment Management, U.S. Securities and 

Exchange Commission to Paul Schott Stevens, 

Continued 

‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on August 3, 

2021, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the 

‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BZX’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(the ‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I, II, and 

III below, which Items have been 

prepared by the Exchange. The 

Commission is publishing this notice to 

solicit comments on the proposed rule 

change from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the 

‘‘Exchange’’ or ‘‘BZX’’) is filing with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) a proposed rule change 

to list and trade shares of the Global X 

Bitcoin Trust (the ‘‘Trust’’),3 under BZX 

Rule 14.11(e)(4), Commodity-Based 

Trust Shares. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is also available on the Exchange’s 

website (http://markets.cboe.com/us/ 

equities/regulation/rule_filings/bzx/), at 

the Exchange’s Office of the Secretary, 

and at the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

Exchange included statements 

concerning the purpose of and basis for 

the proposed rule change and discussed 

any comments it received on the 

proposed rule change. The text of these 

statements may be examined at the 

places specified in Item IV below. The 

Exchange has prepared summaries, set 

forth in sections A, B, and C below, of 

the most significant aspects of such 

statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The Exchange proposes to list and 

trade the Shares under BZX Rule 

14.11(e)(4),4 which governs the listing 

and trading of Commodity-Based Trust 

Shares on the Exchange.5 Global X 

Digital Assets, LLC is the sponsor of the 

Trust (the ‘‘Sponsor’’). The Shares will 

be registered with the Commission by 

means of the Trust’s registration 

statement on Form S–1 (the 

‘‘Registration Statement’’).6

Background 

Bitcoin is a digital asset based on the 

decentralized, open source protocol of 

the peer-to-peer computer network 

launched in 2009 that governs the 

creation, movement, and ownership of 

bitcoin and hosts the public ledger, or 

‘‘blockchain,’’ on which all bitcoin 

transactions are recorded (the ‘‘Bitcoin 

Network’’ or ‘‘Bitcoin’’). The 

decentralized nature of the Bitcoin 

Network allows parties to transact 

directly with one another based on 

cryptographic proof instead of relying 

on a trusted third party. The protocol 

also lays out the rate of issuance of new 

bitcoin within the Bitcoin Network, a 

rate that is reduced by half 

approximately every four years with an 

eventual hard cap of 21 million. It’s 

generally understood that the 

combination of these two features—a 

systemic hard cap of 21 million bitcoin 

and the ability to transact trustlessly 

(i.e., without a trusted intermediary) 

with anyone connected to the Bitcoin 

Network—gives bitcoin its value.7 The 

first rule filing proposing to list an 

exchange-traded product to provide 

exposure to bitcoin in the U.S. was 

submitted by the Exchange on June 30, 

2016.8 At that time, blockchain 

technology, and digital assets that 

utilized it, were relatively new to the 

broader public. The market cap of all 

bitcoin in existence at that time was 

approximately $10 billion. No registered 

offering of digital asset securities or 

shares in an investment vehicle with 

exposure to bitcoin or any other 

cryptocurrency had yet been conducted, 

and the regulated infrastructure for 

conducting a digital asset securities 

offering had not begun to develop.9

Similarly, regulated U.S. bitcoin futures 

contracts did not exist. The Commodity 

Futures Trading Commission (the 

‘‘CFTC’’) had determined that bitcoin is 

a commodity,10 but had not engaged in 

significant enforcement actions in the 

space. The New York Department of 

Financial Services (‘‘NYDFS’’) adopted 

its final BitLicense regulatory 

framework in 2015, but had only 

approved four entities to engage in 

activities relating to virtual currencies 

(whether through granting a BitLicense 

or a limited-purpose trust charter) as of 

June 30, 2016.11 While the first over-thecounter bitcoin fund launched in 2013, 

public trading was limited and the fund 

had only $60 million in assets.12 There 

were very few, if any, traditional 

financial institutions engaged in the 

space, whether through investment or 

providing services to digital asset 

companies. In January 2018, the Staff of 

the Commission noted in a letter to the 

Investment Company Institute and 

SIFMA that it was not aware, at that 

time, of a single custodian providing 

fund custodial services for digital 

assets.13 Fast forward to the first quarter 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
47178 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

President & CEO, Investment Company Institute 

and Timothy W. Cameron, Asset Management 

Group—Head, Securities Industry and Financial 

Markets Association (January 18, 2018), available at 

https://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/ 

noaction/2018/cryptocurrency-011818.htm. 

14See Prospectus supplement filed pursuant to 

Rule 424(b)(1) for INX Tokens (Registration No. 

333–233363), available at: https://www.sec.gov/ 

Archives/edgar/data/1725882/ 

000121390020023202/ea125858-424b1_

inxlimited.htm. 

15See Prospectus filed by Stone Ridge Trust VI 

on behalf of NYDIG Bitcoin Strategy Fund 

Registration, available at: https://www.sec.gov/ 

Archives/edgar/data/1764894/ 

000119312519309942/d693146d497.htm. 

16See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90788, 

86 FR 11627 (February 26, 2021) (File Number S7– 

25–20) (Custody of Digital Asset Securities by 

Special Purpose Broker-Dealers). 

17See letter from Elizabeth Baird, Deputy 

Director, Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. 

Securities and Exchange Commission to Kris 

Dailey, Vice President, Risk Oversight & 

Operational Regulation, Financial Industry 

Regulatory Authority (September 25, 2020), 

available at: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/ 

marketreg/mr-noaction/2020/finra-ats-role-insettlement-of-digital-asset-security-trades09252020.pdf. 

18See letter from Jeffrey S. Mooney, Associate 

Director, Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. 

Securities and Exchange Commission to Charles G. 

Cascarilla & Daniel M. Burstein, Paxos Trust 

Company, LLC (October 28, 2019), available at: 

https://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mrnoaction/2019/paxos-trust-company-102819- 

17a.pdf. 

19See, e.g., Form TA–1/A filed by Tokensoft 

Transfer Agent LLC (CIK: 0001794142) on January 

8, 2021, available at: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/ 

edgar/data/1794142/000179414219000001/ 

xslFTA1X01/primary_doc.xml. 

20All statistics and charts included in this 

proposal are sourced from https://

www.cmegroup.com/trading/bitcoin-futures.html. 

21The CFTC’s annual report for Fiscal Year 2020 

(which ended on September 30, 2020) noted that 

the CFTC ‘‘continued to aggressively prosecute 

misconduct involving digital assets that fit within 

the CEA’s definition of commodity’’ and ‘‘brought 

a record setting seven cases involving digital 

assets.’’ See CFTC FY2020 Division of Enforcement 

Annual Report, available at: https://www.cftc.gov/

media/5321/DOE_FY2020_AnnualReport_120120/

download. Additionally, the CFTC filed on October 

1, 2020, a civil enforcement action against the 

owner/operators of the BitMEX trading platform, 

which was one of the largest bitcoin derivative 

exchanges. See CFTC Release No. 8270–20 (October 

1, 2020) available at: https://www.cftc.gov/

PressRoom/PressReleases/8270-20. 

22See OCC News Release 2021–2 (January 4, 

2021) available at: https://www.occ.gov/newsissuances/news-releases/2021/nr-occ-2021-2.html. 

23See OCC News Release 2021–6 (January 13, 

2021) available at: https://www.occ.gov/newsissuances/news-releases/2021/nr-occ-2021-6.html 

and OCC News Release 2021–19 (February 5, 2021) 

available at: https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/

news-releases/2021/nr-occ-2021-19.html. 

24See FinCEN Guidance FIN–2019–G001 (May 9, 

2019) (Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to 

Certain Business Models Involving Convertible 

Virtual Currencies) available at: https://

www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2019-05/FinCEN

%20Guidance%20CVC%20FINAL%20508.pdf. 

25See U.S. Department of the Treasury Press 

Release: ‘‘The Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network Proposes Rule Aimed at Closing AntiMoney Laundering Regulatory Gaps for Certain 

Convertible Virtual Currency and Digital Asset 

Transactions’’ (December 18, 2020), available at: 

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/

sm1216. 

26See U.S. Department of the Treasury 

Enforcement Release: ‘‘OFAC Enters Into $98,830 

Settlement with BitGo, Inc. for Apparent Violations 

of Multiple Sanctions Programs Related to Digital 

Currency Transactions’’ (December 30, 2020) 

available at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/ 

126/20201230_bitgo.pdf. 

27On December 10, 2020, Massachusetts Mutual 

Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced 

that it had purchased $100 million in bitcoin for its 

general investment account. See MassMutual Press 

Release ‘‘Institutional Bitcoin provider NYDIG 

announces minority stake purchase by 

MassMutual’’ (December 10, 2020) available at: 

https://www.massmutual.com/about-us/news-andpress-releases/press-releases/2020/12/institutionalbitcoin-provider-nydig-announces-minority-stakepurchase-by-massmutual. 

28See e.g., ‘‘BlackRock’s Rick Rieder says the 

world’s largest asset manager has ‘started to dabble’ 

in bitcoin’’ (February 17, 2021) available at: https:// 

www.cnbc.com/2021/02/17/blackrock-has-startedto-dabble-in-bitcoin-says-rick-rieder.html and 

‘‘Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd Says Bitcoin Should 

Be Worth $400,000’’ (December 16, 2020) available 

at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020- 

12-16/guggenheim-s-scott-minerd-says-bitcoinshould-be-worth-400-000. 

29See e.g., ‘‘Harvard and Yale Endowments 

Among Those Reportedly Buying Crypto’’ (January 

of 2021 and the digital assets financial 

ecosystem, including bitcoin, has 

progressed significantly. The 

development of a regulated market for 

digital asset securities has significantly 

evolved, with market participants 

having conducted registered public 

offerings of both digital asset 

securities 14 and shares in investment 

vehicles holding bitcoin futures.15

Additionally, licensed and regulated 

service providers have emerged to 

provide fund custodial services for 

digital assets, among other services. For 

example, in December 2020, the 

Commission adopted a conditional noaction position permitting certain 

special purpose broker-dealers to 

custody digital asset securities under 

Rule 15c3–3 under the Exchange Act; 16

in September 2020, the Staff of the 

Commission released a no-action letter 

permitting certain broker-dealers to 

operate a non-custodial Alternative 

Trading System (‘‘ATS’’) for digital asset 

securities, subject to specified 

conditions; 17 and in October 2019, the 

Staff of the Commission granted 

temporary relief from the clearing 

agency registration requirement to an 

entity seeking to establish a securities 

clearance and settlement system based 

on distributed ledger technology,18 and 

multiple transfer agents who provide 

services for digital asset securities 

registered with the Commission.19

Outside the Commission’s purview, 

the regulatory landscape has changed 

significantly since 2016, and 

cryptocurrency markets have grown and 

evolved as well. The market for bitcoin 

is approximately 100 times larger, 

having recently reached a market cap of 

over $1 trillion, although as of July 19, 

2021, it is closer to $580 billion. CFTC 

regulated bitcoin futures represented 

approximately $28 billion in notional 

trading volume on Chicago Mercantile 

Exchange (‘‘CME’’) (‘‘Bitcoin Futures’’) 

in December 2020 compared to $737 

million, $1.4 billion, and $3.9 billion in 

total trading in December 2017, 

December 2018, and December 2019, 

respectively. Bitcoin Futures traded 

over $1.2 billion per day in December 

2020 and represented $1.6 billion in 

open interest compared to $115 million 

in December 2019, which the Exchange 

believes represents a regulated market of 

significant size, as further discussed 

below.20 The CFTC has exercised its 

regulatory jurisdiction in bringing a 

number of enforcement actions related 

to bitcoin and against trading platforms 

that offer cryptocurrency trading.21 The 

U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency (the ‘‘OCC’’) has made clear 

that federally-chartered banks are able 

to provide custody services for 

cryptocurrencies and other digital 

assets.22 The OCC recently granted 

conditional approval of two charter 

conversions by state-chartered trust 

companies to national banks, both of 

which provide cryptocurrency custody 

services.23 NYDFS has granted no fewer 

than twenty-five BitLicenses, including 

to established public payment 

companies like PayPal Holdings, Inc. 

and Square, Inc., and limited purpose 

trust charters to entities providing 

cryptocurrency custody services, 

including the Trust’s Custodian. The 

U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes 

Enforcement Network (‘‘FinCEN’’) has 

released extensive guidance regarding 

the applicability of the Bank Secrecy 

Act (‘‘BSA’’) and implementing 

regulations to virtual currency 

businesses,24 and has proposed rules 

imposing requirements on entities 

subject to the BSA that are specific to 

the technological context of virtual 

currencies.25 In addition, the Treasury’s 

Office of Foreign Assets Control 

(‘‘OFAC’’) has brought enforcement 

actions over apparent violations of the 

sanctions laws in connection with the 

provision of wallet management 

services for digital assets.26

In addition to the regulatory 

developments laid out above, more 

traditional financial market participants 

appear to be embracing cryptocurrency: 

large insurance companies,27 asset 

managers,28 university endowments,29


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 47179 

25, 2021) available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/ 

news/articles/2021-01-26/harvard-and-yaleendowments-among-those-reportedly-buyingcrypto. 

30See e.g., ‘‘Virginia Police Department Reveals 

Why its Pension Fund is Betting on Bitcoin’’ 

(February 14, 2019) available at: https://

finance.yahoo.com/news/virginia-policedepartment-reveals-why-194558505.html. 

31See e.g., ‘‘Bridgewater: Our Thoughts on 

Bitcoin’’ (January 28, 2021) available at: https://

www.bridgewater.com/research-and-insights/ourthoughts-on-bitcoin and ‘‘Paul Tudor Jones says he 

likes bitcoin even more now, rally still in the ‘first 

inning’ ’’ (October 22, 2020) available at: https://

www.cnbc.com/2020/10/22/-paul-tudor-jones-sayshe-likes-bitcoin-even-more-now-rally-still-in-thefirst-inning.html. 

32See Letter from Division of Corporation 

Finance, Office of Real Estate & Construction to 

Barry E. Silbert, Chief Executive Officer, Grayscale 

Bitcoin Trust (January 31, 2020) https://

www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1588489/ 

000000000020000953/filename1.pdf. 

33See Form 10–K submitted by Tesla, Inc. for the 

fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 at 23: https:// 

www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/ 

1318605/000156459021004599/tsla-10k_

20201231.htm. 

34See Form 10–Q submitted by MicroStrategy 

Incorporated for the quarterly period ended 

September 30, 2020 at 8: https://www.sec.gov/ 

ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/ 

000156459020047995/mstr-10q_20200930.htm. 

35See Form 10–Q submitted by Square, Inc. for 

the quarterly period ended September 30, 2020 at 

51: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/ 

data/1512673/000151267320000012/sq20200930.htm. 

36The Exchange notes that the Purpose Bitcoin 

ETF, a retail physical bitcoin ETP recently launched 

in Canada, reportedly reached $421.8 million in 

assets under management (‘‘AUM’’) in two days, 

demonstrating the demand for a North American 

market listed bitcoin exchange-traded product 

(‘‘ETP’’). The Purpose Bitcoin ETF also offers a class 

of units that is U.S. dollar denominated, which 

could appeal to U.S. investors. Without an 

approved bitcoin ETP in the U.S. as a viable 

alternative, U.S. investors could seek to purchase 

these shares in order to get access to bitcoin 

exposure. Given the separate regulatory regime and 

the potential difficulties associated with any 

international litigation, such an arrangement would 

create more risk exposure for U.S. investors than 

they would otherwise have with a U.S. exchange 

listed ETP. 

37The Exchange notes that securities regulators in 

a number of other countries have either approved 

or otherwise allowed the listing and trading of 

bitcoin ETPs. Specifically, these funds include the 

Purpose Bitcoin ETF, Bitcoin ETF, VanEck Vectors 

Bitcoin ETN, WisdomTree Bitcoin ETP, Bitcoin 

Tracker One, BTCetc bitcoin ETP, Amun Bitcoin 

ETP, Amun Bitcoin Suisse ETP, 21Shares Short 

Bitcoin ETP, and CoinShares Physical Bitcoin ETP. 

38Because OTC Bitcoin Funds are not listed on 

an exchange, they are also not subject to the same 

transparency and regulatory oversight by a listing 

exchange as the Shares would be. In the case of the 

Trust, the existence of a surveillance-sharing 

agreement between the Exchange and the Bitcoin 

Futures market results in increased investor 

protections compared to OTC Bitcoin Funds. 

39The inability to trade in line with NAV may at 

some point result in OTC Bitcoin Funds trading at 

a discount to their NAV, which has occurred more 

recently with respect to one prominent OTC Bitcoin 

Fund. While that has not historically been the case, 

and it is not clear whether such discounts will 

continue, such a prolonged, significant discount 

scenario would give rise to nearly identical 

potential issues related to trading at a premium as 

described below. 

40As of March 31, 2021. See Form 10–Q 

submitted by on behalf of the Grayscale Bitcoin 

Trust for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2021 

at 4: https://grayscale.com/wp-content/uploads/ 

sites/3/2021/05/gbtc_q1-2021_10q_as-filed.pdf. 

Compare to an AUM of approximately $2.6 billion 

on February 26, 2020, the date on which the 

Commission issued the most recent disapproval 

order for a bitcoin ETP. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 88284 (February 26, 2020), 85 FR 12595 

(March 3, 2020) (SR–NYSEArca–2019–39) (the 

Continued 

pension funds,30 and even historically 

bitcoin skeptical fund managers 31 are 

allocating to bitcoin. The largest overthe-counter bitcoin fund previously 

filed a Form 10 registration statement, 

which the Staff of the Commission 

reviewed and which took effect 

automatically, and is now a reporting 

company.32 Established companies like 

Tesla, Inc.,33 MicroStrategy 

Incorporated,34 and Square, Inc.,35

among others, have recently announced 

substantial investments in bitcoin in 

amounts as large as $1.5 billion (Tesla) 

and $425 million (MicroStrategy). 

Suffice to say, bitcoin is on its way to 

gaining mainstream usage. 

Despite these developments, access 

for U.S. retail investors to gain exposure 

to bitcoin via a transparent and 

regulated exchange-traded vehicle 

remains limited. As investors and 

advisors increasingly utilize ETPs to 

manage diversified portfolios (including 

equities, fixed income securities, 

commodities, and currencies) quickly, 

easily, relatively inexpensively, and 

without having to hold directly any of 

the underlying assets, options for 

bitcoin exposure for U.S. investors 

remain limited to: (i) Investing in overthe-counter bitcoin funds (‘‘OTC Bitcoin 

Funds’’) that are subject to high 

premium/discount volatility (and high 

management fees) to the advantage of 

more sophisticated investors that are 

able to create and redeem shares at net 

asset value (‘‘NAV’’) directly with the 

issuing trust; (ii) facing the technical 

risk, complexity and generally high fees 

associated with buying spot bitcoin; or 

(iii) purchasing shares of operating 

companies that they believe will 

provide proxy exposure to bitcoin with 

limited disclosure about the associated 

risks. Meanwhile, investors in many 

other countries, including Canada,36 are 

able to use more traditional exchange 

listed and traded products to gain 

exposure to bitcoin, disadvantaging U.S. 

investors and leaving them with riskier 

and more expensive means of getting 

bitcoin exposure.37

OTC Bitcoin Funds and Investor 

Protection 

Over the past year, U.S. investor 

exposure to bitcoin through OTC 

Bitcoin Funds has grown into the tens 

of billions of dollars. With that growth, 

so too has grown the potential risk to 

U.S. investors. As described below, 

premium and discount volatility, high 

fees, insufficient disclosures, and 

technical hurdles are putting U.S. 

investor money at risk on a daily basis 

that could potentially be eliminated 

through access to a bitcoin ETP. The 

Exchange understands the 

Commission’s previous focus on 

potential manipulation of a bitcoin ETP 

in prior disapproval orders, but now 

believes that such concerns have been 

sufficiently mitigated and that the 

growing and quantifiable investor 

protection concerns should be the 

central consideration as the Commission 

reviews this proposal. As such, the 

Exchange believes that approving this 

proposal (and comparable proposals 

submitted hereafter) provides the 

Commission with the opportunity to 

allow U.S. investors with access to 

bitcoin in a regulated and transparent 

exchange-traded vehicle that would act 

to limit risk to U.S. investors by: (i) 

Reducing premium and discount 

volatility; (ii) reducing management fees 

through meaningful competition; (iii) 

reducing risks associated with investing 

in operating companies that are 

imperfect proxies for bitcoin exposure; 

and (iv) providing an alternative to 

custodying spot bitcoin. 

(i) OTC Bitcoin Funds and Premium/ 

Discount Volatility 

OTC Bitcoin Funds are generally 

designed to provide exposure to bitcoin 

in a manner similar to the Shares. 

However, unlike the Shares, OTC 

Bitcoin Funds are unable to freely offer 

creation and redemption in a way that 

incentivizes market participants to keep 

their shares trading in line with their 

NAV 38 and, as such, frequently trade at 

a price that is out of line with the value 

of their assets held. Historically, OTC 

Bitcoin Funds have traded at a 

significant premium to NAV.39

Trading at a premium or a discount is 

not unique to OTC Bitcoin Funds and is 

not in itself problematic, but the size of 

such premiums/discounts and volatility 

thereof highlight the key differences in 

operations and market structure of OTC 

Bitcoin Funds as compared to ETPs. 

This, combined with the significant 

increase in AUM for OTC Bitcoin Funds 

over the past year, has given rise to 

significant and quantifiable investor 

protection issues, as further described 

below. In fact, the largest OTC Bitcoin 

Fund has grown to $38.3 billion in 

AUM 40 and has historically traded at a 


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47180 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

‘‘Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval’’). While the price 

of one bitcoin has increased approximately 400% 

in the intervening period, the total AUM has 

increased by approximately 1240%, indicating that 

the increase in AUM was created beyond just price 

appreciation in bitcoin. 

41See ‘‘Traders Piling Into Overvalued Crypto 

Funds Risk a Painful Exit’’ (February 4, 2021) 

available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/ 

articles/2021-02-04/bitcoin-one-big-risk-wheninvesting-in-crypto-funds. 

42The Exchange notes, for example, that similar 

premiums/discounts and premium/discount 

volatility exist for other non-bitcoin cryptocurrency 

related over-the-counter funds, but that the size and 

investor interest in those funds does not give rise 

to the same investor protection concerns that exist 

for OTC Bitcoin Funds. 

43At $35 billion in AUM, the largest OTC Bitcoin 

Fund would be the 32nd largest out of roughly 

2,400 U.S. listed ETPs. 

44The Exchange notes that in two recent 

incidents, the premium dropped from 28.28% to 

12.29% from the close on 3/19/20 to the close on 

3/20/20 and from 38.40% to 21.05% from the close 

on 5/13/19 to the close on 5/14/19. Similarly, over 

the period of 12/21/20 to 1/21/20, the premium 

went from 40.18% to 2.79%. While the price of 

bitcoin appreciated significantly during this period 

and NAV per share increased by 41.25%, the price 

per share increased by only 3.58%. 

45 In addition to numerous debt offerings, 

MicroStrategy recently filed with the SEC to offer 

for sale up to $1 billion in additional common 

stock, the proceeds of which may at least be 

partially used to acquire more bitcoin. See Form S– 

3 submitted by MicroStrategy Incorporated on June 

14, 2021: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/ 

1050446/000119312521190150/ 

d159028ds3asr.htm#tocb159028_8. 

46 In August 2017, the Commission’s Office of 

Investor Education and Advocacy warned investors 

about situations where companies were publicly 

announcing events relating to digital coins or 

tokens in an effort to affect the price of the 

premium of between roughly five and 

40%, though it has seen premiums at 

times above 100%.41 Recently, however, 

it has traded at a discount. As of June 

18, 2021, the discount was 

approximately 11%, representing 

around $4.1 billion in market value less 

than the bitcoin actually held by the 

fund. If premium/discount numbers 

move back to the middle of its historical 

range to a 20% premium (which 

historically could occur at any time and 

overnight), it would represent a swing of 

approximately $11 billion in value 

unrelated to the value of bitcoin held by 

the fund. These numbers are only 

associated with a single OTC Bitcoin 

Fund—as more and more OTC Bitcoin 

Funds come to market and more 

investor assets flood into them to get 

access to bitcoin exposure, the potential 

dollars at risk will only increase. 

This raises significant investor 

protection issues in several ways. First, 

the most obvious issue is that investors 

are buying shares of a fund for a price 

that is not reflective of the per share 

value of the fund’s underlying assets. 

Even operating within the normal 

premium range, it’s possible for an 

investor to buy shares of an OTC Bitcoin 

Fund only to have those shares quickly 

lose 10% or more in dollar value 

excluding any movement of the price of 

bitcoin. That is to say—the price of 

bitcoin could have stayed exactly the 

same from market close on one day to 

market open the next, yet the value of 

the shares held by the investor 

decreased only because of the 

fluctuation of the premium/discount. As 

more investment vehicles, including 

mutual funds and ETFs, seek to gain 

exposure to bitcoin, the easiest option 

for a buy and hold strategy is often an 

OTC Bitcoin Fund, meaning that even 

investors that do not directly buy OTC 

Bitcoin Funds can be disadvantaged by 

extreme premiums (or discounts) and 

premium volatility. 

The second issue is related to the first 

and explains how the premium in OTC 

Bitcoin Funds essentially creates a 

direct payment from retail investors to 

more sophisticated investors. Generally 

speaking, only accredited investors are 

able to create or redeem shares with the 

issuing trust, which means that they are 

able to buy or sell shares directly with 

the trust at NAV (in exchange for either 

cash or bitcoin) without having to pay 

the premium or sell into the discount. 

While there are often minimum holding 

periods for shares, an investor that is 

allowed to interact directly with the 

trust is able to hedge their bitcoin 

exposure as needed to satisfy the 

holding requirements and collect on the 

premium or discount opportunity. 

As noted above, the existence of a 

premium or discount and the premium/ 

discount collection opportunity is not 

unique to OTC Bitcoin Funds and does 

not in itself warrant the approval of an 

ETP.42 What makes this situation 

unique is that such significant and 

persistent premiums and discounts can 

exist in a product with $30+ billion in 

assets under management,43 that 

billions of retail investor dollars are 

constantly under threat of premium/ 

discount volatility,44 and that premium/ 

discount volatility is generally captured 

by more sophisticated investors on a 

riskless basis. The Exchange 

understands the Commission’s focus on 

potential manipulation of a bitcoin ETP 

in prior disapproval orders, but now 

believes that current circumstances 

warrant that this direct, quantifiable 

investor protection issue should be the 

central consideration as the Commission 

determines whether to approve this 

proposal, particularly when the Trust as 

a bitcoin ETP is designed to reduce the 

likelihood of significant and prolonged 

premiums and discounts with its openended nature as well as the ability of 

market participants (i.e., market makers 

and authorized participants) to create 

and redeem on a daily basis. 

(ii) Spot and Proxy Exposure 

Exposure to bitcoin through an ETP 

also presents certain advantages for 

retail investors compared to buying spot 

bitcoin directly. The most notable 

advantage is the use of the Custodian to 

custody the Trust’s bitcoin assets. The 

Sponsor has carefully selected the 

Custodian, a third party custodian that 

carries insurance covering both hot and 

cold storage and is chartered as a trust 

company and will custody the Trust’s 

bitcoin assets in a manner so that it 

meets the definition of qualified 

custodian under the Investment 

Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. This 

includes, among others, the use of 

‘‘cold’’ (offline) storage to hold private 

keys and the employment by the 

Custodian of a certain degree of 

cybersecurity measures and operational 

best practices. By contrast, an 

individual retail investor holding 

bitcoin through a cryptocurrency 

exchange lacks these protections. 

Typically, retail exchanges hold most, if 

not all, retail investors’ bitcoin in ‘‘hot’’ 

(internet-connected) storage and do not 

make any commitments to indemnify 

retail investors or to observe any 

particular cybersecurity standard. 

Meanwhile, a retail investor holding 

spot bitcoin directly in a self-hosted 

wallet may suffer from inexperience in 

private key management (e.g., 

insufficient password protection, lost 

key, etc.), which could cause them to 

lose some or all of their bitcoin 

holdings. In the Custodian, the Trust 

has engaged a regulated and licensed 

entity highly experienced in bitcoin 

custody, with dedicated, trained 

employees and procedures to manage 

the private keys to the Trust’s bitcoin, 

and which is accountable for failures. 

Thus, with respect to custody of the 

Trust’s bitcoin assets, the Trust presents 

advantages from an investment 

protection standpoint for retail investors 

compared to owning spot bitcoin 

directly. 

Finally, as described in the 

Background section above, recently a 

number of operating companies engaged 

in unrelated businesses—such as Tesla 

(a car manufacturer) and MicroStrategy 

(an enterprise software company)—have 

announced investments as large as $1.5 

billion in bitcoin.45 Without access to 

bitcoin exchange-traded products, retail 

investors seeking investment exposure 

to bitcoin may end up purchasing shares 

in these companies in order to gain the 

exposure to bitcoin that they seek.46 In 


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company’s publicly traded common stock. See 

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-andbulletins/ia_icorelatedclaims 

47See e.g., ‘‘7 public companies with exposure to 

bitcoin’’ (February 8, 2021) available at: https://

finance.yahoo.com/news/7-public-companies-withexposure-to-bitcoin-154201525.html; and ‘‘Want to 

get in the crypto trade without holding bitcoin 

yourself? Here are some investing ideas’’ (February 

19, 2021) available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/ 

02/19/ways-to-invest-in-bitcoin-without-holdingthe-cryptocurrency-yourself-.html. 

48See e.g., Tesla 10–K for the year ended 

December 31, 2020, which mentions bitcoin just 

nine times: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/ 

edgar/data/1318605/000156459021004599/tsla10k_20201231.htm. 

49According to CME, the CME CF Bitcoin 

Reference Rate aggregates the trade flow of major 

bitcoin spot exchanges during a specific calculation 

window into a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. 

dollar price of bitcoin. Calculation rules are geared 

toward maximum transparency and real-time 

replicability in underlying spot markets, including 

Bitstamp, Coinbase, Gemini, itBit, and Kraken. For 

additional information, refer to https://

www.cmegroup.com/trading/cryptocurrencyindices/cf-bitcoin-reference-rate.html?redirect=/ 

trading/cf-bitcoin-reference-rate.html. 

50A large open interest holder in Bitcoin Futures 

is an entity that holds at least 25 contracts, which 

is the equivalent of 125 bitcoin. At a price of 

approximately $30,000 per bitcoin on 12/31/20, 

more than 80 firms had outstanding positions of 

greater than $3.8 million in Bitcoin Futures. 

fact, mainstream financial news 

networks have written a number of 

articles providing investors with 

guidance for obtaining bitcoin exposure 

through publicly traded companies 

(such as MicroStrategy, Tesla, and 

bitcoin mining companies, among 

others) instead of dealing with the 

complications associated with buying 

spot bitcoin in the absence of a bitcoin 

ETP.47 Such operating companies, 

however, are imperfect bitcoin proxies 

and provide investors with partial 

bitcoin exposure paired with a host of 

additional risks associated with 

whichever operating company they 

decide to purchase. Additionally, the 

disclosures provided by the 

aforementioned operating companies 

with respect to risks relating to their 

bitcoin holdings are generally 

substantially smaller than the 

registration statement of a bitcoin ETP, 

including the Registration Statement, 

typically amounting to a few sentences 

of narrative description and a handful of 

risk factors.48 In other words, investors 

seeking bitcoin exposure through 

publicly traded companies are gaining 

only partial exposure to bitcoin and are 

not fully benefitting from the risk 

disclosures and associated investor 

protections that come from the 

securities registration process. 

Bitcoin Futures 

CME began offering trading in Bitcoin 

Futures in 2017. Each contract 

represents five bitcoin and is based on 

the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.49

The contracts trade and settle like other 

cash-settled commodity futures 

contracts. Nearly every measurable 

metric related to Bitcoin Futures has 

trended consistently up since launch 

and/or accelerated upward in the past 

year. For example, there was 

approximately $28 billion in trading in 

Bitcoin Futures in December 2020 

compared to $737 million, $1.4 billion, 

and $3.9 billion in total trading in 

December 2017, December 2018, and 

December 2019, respectively. Bitcoin 

Futures traded over $1.2 billion per day 

on the CME in December 2020 and 

represented $1.6 billion in open interest 

compared to $115 million in December 

2019. This general upward trend in 

trading volume and open interest is 

captured in the following chart. 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

Similarly, the number of large open 

interest holders 50 has continued to 

increase even as the price of bitcoin has 

risen, as have the number of unique 

accounts trading Bitcoin Futures. 


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51See Hu, Y., Hou, Y. and Oxley, L. (2019). 

‘‘What role do futures markets play in Bitcoin 

pricing? Causality, cointegration and price 

discovery from a time-varying perspective’’ 

(available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ 

articles/PMC7481826/). This academic research 

paper concludes that ‘‘There exist no episodes 

where the Bitcoin spot markets dominates the price 

discovery processes with regard to Bitcoin futures. 

This points to a conclusion that the price formation 

originates solely in the Bitcoin futures market. We 

can, therefore, conclude that the Bitcoin futures 

markets dominate the dynamic price discovery 

process based upon time-varying information share 

measures. Overall, price discovery seems to occur 

in the Bitcoin futures markets rather than the 

underlying spot market based upon a time-varying 

perspective.’’ 

The Sponsor further believes that 

academic research corroborates the 

overall trend outlined above and 

supports the thesis that the Bitcoin 

Futures pricing leads the spot market 

and, thus, a person attempting to 

manipulate the Shares would also have 

to trade on that market to manipulate 

the ETP. Specifically, the Sponsor 

believes that such research indicates 

that bitcoin futures lead the bitcoin spot 

market in price formation.51

BILLING CODE 8011–01–C 


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52See Exchange Rule 14.11(f). 

53Commodity-Based Trust Shares, as described in 

Exchange Rule 14.11(e)(4), are a type of Trust 

Issued Receipt. 

54As the Exchange has stated in a number of 

other public documents, it continues to believe that 

bitcoin is resistant to price manipulation and that 

‘‘other means to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices’’ exist to justify 

dispensing with the requisite surveillance sharing 

agreement. The geographically diverse and 

continuous nature of bitcoin trading render it 

difficult and prohibitively costly to manipulate the 

price of bitcoin. The fragmentation across bitcoin 

platforms, the relatively slow speed of transactions, 

and the capital necessary to maintain a significant 

presence on each trading platform make 

manipulation of bitcoin prices through continuous 

trading activity challenging. To the extent that there 

are bitcoin exchanges engaged in or allowing wash 

trading or other activity intended to manipulate the 

price of bitcoin on other markets, such pricing does 

not normally impact prices on other exchange 

because participants will generally ignore markets 

with quotes that they deem non-executable. 

Moreover, the linkage between the bitcoin markets 

and the presence of arbitrageurs in those markets 

means that the manipulation of the price of bitcoin 

price on any single venue would require 

manipulation of the global bitcoin price in order to 

be effective. Arbitrageurs must have funds 

distributed across multiple trading platforms in 

order to take advantage of temporary price 

dislocations, thereby making it unlikely that there 

will be strong concentration of funds on any 

particular bitcoin exchange or OTC platform. As a 

result, the potential for manipulation on a trading 

platform would require overcoming the liquidity 

supply of such arbitrageurs who are effectively 

eliminating any cross-market pricing differences. 

55As previously articulated by the Commission, 

‘‘The standard requires such surveillance-sharing 

agreements since ‘‘they provide a necessary 

deterrent to manipulation because they facilitate the 

availability of information needed to fully 

investigate a manipulation if it were to occur.’’ The 

Commission has emphasized that it is essential for 

an exchange listing a derivative securities product 

to enter into a surveillance- sharing agreement with 

markets trading underlying securities for the listing 

exchange to have the ability to obtain information 

necessary to detect, investigate, and deter fraud and 

market manipulation, as well as violations of 

exchange rules and applicable federal securities 

laws and rules. The hallmarks of a surveillancesharing agreement are that the agreement provides 

for the sharing of information about market trading 

activity, clearing activity, and customer identity; 

that the parties to the agreement have reasonable 

ability to obtain access to and produce requested 

information; and that no existing rules, laws, or 

practices would impede one party to the agreement 

from obtaining this information from, or producing 

it to, the other party.’’ The Commission has 

historically held that joint membership in ISG 

constitutes such a surveillance sharing agreement. 

See Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval. The Exchange 

also notes that it has surveillance sharing 

agreements in place with several spot bitcoin 

exchanges. 

56For a list of the current members and affiliate 

members of ISG, see www.isgportal.com. 

57See Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval. 

58See Winklevoss Order at 37580. The 

Commission has also specifically noted that it ‘‘is 

not applying a ‘cannot be manipulated’ standard; 

instead, the Commission is examining whether the 

proposal meets the requirements of the Exchange 

Act and, pursuant to its Rules of Practice, places the 

burden on the listing exchange to demonstrate the 

validity of its contentions and to establish that the 

requirements of the Exchange Act have been met.’’ 

Id. at 37582. 

Section 6(b)(5) and the Applicable 

Standards 

The Commission has approved 

numerous series of Trust Issued 

Receipts,52 including Commodity-Based 

Trust Shares,53 to be listed on U.S. 

national securities exchanges. In order 

for any proposed rule change from an 

exchange to be approved, the 

Commission must determine that, 

among other things, the proposal is 

consistent with the requirements of 

Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, specifically 

including: (i) The requirement that a 

national securities exchange’s rules are 

designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices; 54 and 

(ii) the requirement that an exchange 

proposal be designed, in general, to 

protect investors and the public interest. 

The Exchange believes that this 

proposal is consistent with the 

requirements of Section 6(b)(5) of the 

Act and that it has sufficiently 

demonstrated that, on the whole, the 

manipulation concerns previously 

articulated by the Commission are 

sufficiently mitigated to the point that 

they are outweighed by quantifiable 

investor protection issues that would be 

resolved by approving this proposal. 

Specifically, the Exchange lays out 

below why it believes that the 

significant increase in trading volume in 

Bitcoin Futures, the growth of liquidity 

at the inside in the spot market for 

bitcoin, and certain features of the 

Shares mitigate potential manipulation 

concerns to the point that the investor 

protection issues that have arisen from 

the rapid growth of over-the-counter 

bitcoin funds since the Commission last 

reviewed an exchange proposal to list 

and trade a bitcoin ETP, including 

premium/discount volatility and 

management fees, should be the central 

consideration as the Commission 

determines whether to approve this 

proposal. 

(i) Designed To Prevent Fraudulent and 

Manipulative Acts and Practices 

In order to meet this standard in a 

proposal to list and trade a series of 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares, the 

Commission requires that an exchange 

demonstrate that there is a 

comprehensive surveillance-sharing 

agreement in place 55 with a regulated 

market of significant size. Both the 

Exchange and CME are members of the 

Intermarket Surveillance Group (the 

‘‘ISG’’).56 The only remaining issue to be 

addressed is whether the Bitcoin 

Futures market constitutes a market of 

significant size, which the Exchange 

believes that it does. The terms 

‘‘significant market’’ and ‘‘market of 

significant size’’ include a market (or 

group of markets) as to which: (a) There 

is a reasonable likelihood that a person 

attempting to manipulate the ETP 

would also have to trade on that market 

to manipulate the ETP, so that a 

surveillance-sharing agreement would 

assist the listing exchange in detecting 

and deterring misconduct; and (b) it is 

unlikely that trading in the ETP would 

be the predominant influence on prices 

in that market.57

The Commission has also recognized 

that the ‘‘regulated market of significant 

size’’ standard is not the only means for 

satisfying Section 6(b)(5) of the act, 

specifically providing that a listing 

exchange could demonstrate that ‘‘other 

means to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices’’ are 

sufficient to justify dispensing with the 

requisite surveillance-sharing 

agreement.58

(a) Manipulation of the ETP 

The significant growth in Bitcoin 

Futures across each of trading volumes, 

open interest, large open interest 

holders, and total market participants 

since the Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval 

was issued are reflective of that market’s 

growing influence on the spot price, 

which according to the academic 

research cited above, was already 

leading the spot price in 2018 and 2019. 

Where Bitcoin Futures lead the price in 

the spot market such that a potential 

manipulator of the bitcoin spot market 

would have to participate in the Bitcoin 

Futures market, it follows that a 

potential manipulator of the Shares 

would similarly have to transact in the 

Bitcoin Futures market because the 

NAV is based on the price of bitcoin on 

the principal market, which identified 

market must be an active market with 

orderly transactions. Further, the Trust 

only allows for in-kind creation and 

redemption, which, as further described 

below, reduces the potential for 

manipulation of the Shares through 

manipulation of the Trust’s 

methodology for calculating NAV or any 

of its individual constituents, again 

emphasizing that a potential 

manipulator of the Shares would have 

to manipulate the entirety of the bitcoin 

spot market, which is led by the Bitcoin 

Futures market. As such, the Exchange 

believes that part (a) of the significant 

market test outlined above is satisfied 

and that common membership in ISG 

between the Exchange and CME, 

together with comprehensive 

surveillance sharing agreements 

between the Exchange and spot markets 

with material volume, would assist the 


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59These statistics are based on samples of bitcoin 

liquidity in USD (excluding stablecoins or Euro 

liquidity) based on executable quotes on Coinbase 

Pro, Gemini, Bitstamp, Kraken, LMAX Exchange, 

BinanceUS, and OKCoin during February 2021. 

60These statistics are based on samples of bitcoin 

liquidity in USD (excluding stablecoins or Euro 

liquidity) based on executable quotes on Coinbase 

Pro, Gemini, Bitstamp, Kraken, LMAX Exchange, 

BinanceUS, and OKCoin during February 2021. 

61The Exchange notes that the Sponsor is 

finalizing negotiations with each of the 

administrator, transfer agent, marketing agent, and 

custodian, and it will submit an amendment to this 

proposal upon execution of agreements with the 

administrator, transfer agent, marketing agent, and 

custodian. 

62 15 U.S.C. 80a–1. 

listing exchange in detecting and 

deterring misconduct in the Shares. 

(b) Predominant Influence on Prices in 

Spot and Bitcoin Futures 

The Exchange also believes that 

trading in the Shares would not be the 

predominant force on prices in the 

Bitcoin Futures market (or spot market) 

for a number of reasons, including the 

significant volume in the Bitcoin 

Futures market, the size of bitcoin’s 

market cap (approximately $1 trillion), 

and the significant liquidity available in 

the spot market. In addition to the 

Bitcoin Futures market data points cited 

above, the spot market for bitcoin is also 

very liquid. According to data from 

CoinRoutes from February 2021, the 

cost to buy or sell $5 million worth of 

bitcoin averages roughly 10 basis points 

with a market impact of 30 basis 

points.59 For a $10 million market order, 

the cost to buy or sell is roughly 20 basis 

points with a market impact of 50 basis 

points. Stated another way, a market 

participant could enter a market buy or 

sell order for $10 million of bitcoin and 

only move the market 0.5%. More 

strategic purchases or sales (such as 

using limit orders and executing 

through OTC bitcoin trade desks) would 

likely have less obvious impact on the 

market—which is consistent with 

MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Square being 

able to collectively purchase billions of 

dollars in bitcoin. As such, the 

combination of Bitcoin Futures leading 

price discovery, the overall size of the 

bitcoin market, and the ability for 

market participants, including 

authorized participants creating and 

redeeming in-kind with the Trust, to 

buy or sell large amounts of bitcoin 

without significant market impact will 

help prevent the Shares from becoming 

the predominant force on pricing in 

either the bitcoin spot or Bitcoin 

Futures markets, satisfying part (b) of 

the test outlined above. 

(c) Other Means To Prevent Fraudulent 

and Manipulative Acts and Practices 

As noted above, the Commission also 

permits a listing exchange to 

demonstrate that ‘‘other means to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices’’ are sufficient to 

justify dispensing with the requisite 

surveillance-sharing agreement. The 

Exchange believes that such conditions 

are present. Specifically, the significant 

liquidity in the spot market and the 

impact of market orders on the overall 

price of bitcoin mean that attempting to 

move the price of bitcoin is costly and 

has grown more expensive over the past 

year. In January 2020, for example, the 

cost to buy or sell $5 million worth of 

bitcoin averaged roughly 30 basis points 

(compared to 10 basis points in 2/2021) 

with a market impact of 50 basis points 

(compared to 30 basis points in 2/ 

2021).60 For a $10 million market order, 

the cost to buy or sell was roughly 50 

basis points (compared to 20 basis 

points in 2/2021) with a market impact 

of 80 basis points (compared to 50 basis 

points in 2/2021). As the liquidity in the 

bitcoin spot market increases, it follows 

that the impact of $5 million and $10 

million orders will continue to decrease 

the overall impact in spot price. 

Additionally, offering only in-kind 

creation and redemption will provide 

unique protections against potential 

attempts to manipulate the Shares. 

While the Sponsor believes that the 

methodology which it uses to value the 

Trust’s bitcoin is itself resistant to 

manipulation based on the methodology 

further described below, the fact that 

creations and redemptions are only 

available in-kind makes the valuation 

methodology significantly less 

important. Specifically, because the 

Trust will not accept cash to buy bitcoin 

in order to create new shares, will 

charge fees as a percentage of the Trust’s 

bitcoin holdings measure in bitcoin and 

not in dollars, and, barring a forced 

redemption of the Trust or under other 

extraordinary circumstances, will not be 

forced to sell bitcoin to pay cash for 

redeemed shares, the price that the 

Sponsor uses to value the Trust’s bitcoin 

is not particularly important. When 

authorized participants are creating 

with the Trust, they need to deliver a 

certain number of bitcoin per share 

(regardless of the valuation used) and 

when they’re redeeming, they can 

similarly expect to receive a certain 

number of bitcoin per share. As such, 

even if the price used to value the 

Trust’s bitcoin is manipulated (which 

the Sponsor believes that its 

methodology is resistant to), the ratio of 

bitcoin per Share does not change and 

the Trust will either accept (for 

creations) or distribute (for 

redemptions) the same number of 

bitcoin regardless of the value. This not 

only mitigates the risk associated with 

potential manipulation, but also 

discourages and disincentivizes 

manipulation of the valuation 

methodology because there is little 

financial incentive to do so. 

Global X Bitcoin Trust 

Delaware Trust Company is the 

trustee (‘‘Trustee’’). The Sponsor selects 

the administrator, transfer agent, 

marketing agent in connection with the 

creation and redemption of ‘‘Baskets’’ of 

Shares, and third-party regulated 

custodian that will be responsible for 

custody of the Trust’s bitcoin.61

According to the Registration 

Statement, each Share will represent a 

fractional undivided beneficial interest 

in the bitcoin held by the Trust. The 

Trust’s assets will consist of bitcoin 

held by the Custodian on behalf of the 

Trust. The Trust generally does not 

intend to hold cash or cash equivalents. 

However, there may be situations where 

the Trust will hold cash on a temporary 

basis. 

According to the Registration 

Statement, the Trust is neither an 

investment company registered under 

the Investment Company Act of 1940, as 

amended,62 nor a commodity pool for 

purposes of the Commodity Exchange 

Act (‘‘CEA’’), and neither the Trust nor 

the Sponsor is subject to regulation as 

a commodity pool operator or a 

commodity trading adviser in 

connection with the Shares. 

When the Trust sells or redeems its 

Shares, it will do so in ‘‘in-kind’’ 

transactions in blocks of Shares of a size 

to be determined (a ‘‘Creation Basket’’) 

at the Trust’s NAV. Authorized 

participants will deliver, or facilitate the 

delivery of, bitcoin to the Trust’s 

account with the Custodian in exchange 

for Shares when they purchase Shares, 

and the Trust, through the Custodian, 

will deliver bitcoin to such authorized 

participants when they redeem Shares 

with the Trust. Authorized participants 

may then offer Shares to the public at 

prices that depend on various factors, 

including the supply and demand for 

Shares, the value of the Trust’s assets, 

and market conditions at the time of a 

transaction. Shareholders who buy or 

sell Shares during the day from their 

broker may do so at a premium or 

discount relative to the NAV of the 

Shares of the Trust. 

Investment Objective 

According to the Registration 

Statement and as further described 


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below, the investment objective of the 

Trust is to reflect the performance of the 

price of bitcoin less the expenses of the 

Trust’s operations. The Trust will not 

seek to reflect the performance of any 

benchmark or index. 

In seeking to achieve its investment 

objective, the Trust will hold bitcoin. 

The Trust will value its assets daily in 

accordance with Generally Accepted 

Accounting Principles (‘‘GAAP’’), which 

generally value bitcoin by reference to 

orderly transactions in the principal 

active market for bitcoin, as further 

described in the ‘‘Calculation of NAV’’ 

section below. The Trust will process all 

creations and redemptions in-kind in 

transactions with authorized 

participants. The Trust is not actively 

managed. 

Calculation of NAV 

As described in the Registration 

Statement, the Sponsor has adopted a 

policy pursuant to which the Trust will 

value its assets and liabilities. Under 

this policy, the Sponsor uses fair value 

standards according to GAAP. 

Generally, the fair value of an asset 

that is traded on a market is measured 

by reference to the orderly transactions 

on an active market. Among all active 

markets with orderly transactions, the 

market that is used to determine the fair 

value of an asset is the principal market 

(with exceptions described in more 

detail below), which is either the market 

on which the Trust actually transacts, or 

if there is sufficient evidence, the 

market with the most trading volume 

and level of activity for the asset. Where 

there is no active market with orderly 

transactions for an asset, the Sponsor’s 

valuation committee follows policies 

and procedures described in more detail 

below to determine the fair value. 

The Sponsor first determines which 

markets are likely to be active markets 

with orderly transactions for bitcoin. 

Currently, the Sponsor has determined 

that active markets with orderly 

transactions are those that provide 

relevant and reliable price and volume 

information because the venues 

supporting such markets: 

• Conduct trading for bitcoin in U.S. 

dollars; 

• are appropriately licensed to engage 

in bitcoin trading involving New Yorkbased customers (and therefore, among 

other things, have programs to 

effectively detect, prevent, and respond 

to fraud); and 

• otherwise have sufficient indicia of 

an active market with orderly 

transactions: Quality of execution 

(overall costs of a trade, accurate and 

timely execution, clearance and error/ 

dispute resolution); reputation, financial 

strength, compliance with laws and 

regulations, and stability; hours of 

operation and willingness to transact; 

confidentiality of trading activity; and 

integrity of trade and price data. 

The Sponsor has determined that both 

certain bitcoin venues and the OTC 

market meet these criteria. Among the 

venues supporting active markets with 

orderly transactions, the Sponsor 

determines to which such venues the 

Trust has access and refers to these as 

eligible venues. Eligible venues consist 

of eligible OTC venues and eligible 

exchanges. 

The Sponsor then determines the 

principal market for bitcoin as either the 

market that the Trust normally transacts 

in for bitcoin, or, if the Trust does not 

normally transact in any market or the 

Sponsor has sufficient evidence that a 

particular market has the highest trading 

volume and level of activity, such 

market. 

The Trust will not purchase or, 

barring the liquidation of the Trust or 

the Trust incurring certain extraordinary 

expenses or liabilities not contractually 

assumed by the Sponsor, sell bitcoin 

directly. As a result, the Sponsor 

expects that the principal market will 

generally be the market with the highest 

trading volume and level of activity, 

which the Sponsor expects will 

typically be an eligible exchange. The 

Sponsor determines the principal 

market for bitcoin at least quarterly and 

more frequently as circumstances 

warrant. Circumstances in which the 

Sponsor may re-determine the principal 

market include but are not limited to the 

following: Where the market is no 

longer an eligible market or when the 

trading volume for bitcoin on another 

eligible market increases such that that 

eligible market has the highest trading 

volume for the digital asset by a material 

margin. 

Whether the principal market for 

bitcoin is an eligible exchange or the 

OTC market, the price on such principal 

market may not always represent fair 

value or the transactions on such market 

may not always represent orderly 

transactions. Thus, the Sponsor will not 

use the principal market to determine 

the fair value of bitcoin on a 

measurement date if the Sponsor 

determines, at the time of valuation, that 

transactions on the principal market are 

not orderly (e.g., indicative of forced 

liquidations or distress sales). To make 

this determination, the Sponsor reviews 

criteria including: 

• A comparison of the prices on the 

principal market against the prices on 

other eligible venues that the Sponsor 

believes have the strongest regulatory 

compliance, surveillance, and 

enforcement mechanisms; 

• trading volume and prices on the 

principal market at and around the time 

of valuation relative to historical 

activity on the principal market and 

eligible venues; 

• the Sponsor’s understanding of the 

market’s regulatory compliance, 

including with applicable federal and 

state licensing requirements, and 

practices regarding anti-money 

laundering; 

• the degree of intraday price 

fluctuations the market experiences at 

and around the time of valuation; and 

• the ability of the Trust to trade on 

the market. 

If the Sponsor determines that 

transactions on the principal market are 

not orderly, the Sponsor will determine 

the fair value of bitcoin based on the 

eligible exchange with the next-highest 

volume, as long as the Sponsor 

determines that that market has orderly 

transactions at the time of the valuation. 

If market quotations are not readily 

available (including in cases in which 

available market quotations are deemed 

to be unreliable or infrequent), the 

Trust’s bitcoin will be valued as 

determined in good faith pursuant to 

policies and procedures approved by 

the Sponsor’s valuation committee (‘‘fair 

value pricing’’). In these circumstances, 

the Trust determines fair value in a 

manner that seeks to reflect the market 

value of the investment at the time of 

valuation based on consideration of any 

information or factors the Sponsor’s 

valuation committee deems appropriate, 

as further described below. The 

Sponsor’s valuation committee is 

responsible for overseeing the 

implementation of the Trust’s valuation 

procedures and fair value 

determinations. For purposes of 

determining the fair value of bitcoin, the 

valuation committee may consider, 

without limitation: (i) Indications or 

quotes from brokers, (ii) valuations 

provided by a third-party pricing agent, 

(iii) internal models that take into 

consideration different factors 

determined to be relevant by the 

Sponsor or (iv) any combination of the 

above. 

Availability of Information 

In addition to the price transparency 

related to the price of bitcoin, the Trust 

will provide information regarding the 

Trust’s bitcoin holdings as well as 

additional data regarding the Trust. The 

Trust will provide an Intraday 

Indicative Value (‘‘IIV’’) per Share 

updated every 15 seconds, as calculated 

by the Exchange or a third-party 

financial data provider during the 


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47186 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

63As defined in Rule 11.23(a)(3), the term ‘‘BZX 

Official Closing Price’’ shall mean the price 

disseminated to the consolidated tape as the market 

center closing trade. 

64For purposes of Rule 14.11(e)(4), the term 

commodity takes on the definition of the term as 

provided in the Commodity Exchange Act. As noted 

above, the CFTC has opined that Bitcoin is a 

commodity as defined in Section 1a(9) of the 

Commodity Exchange Act. See Coinflip. 

Exchange’s Regular Trading Hours (9:30 

a.m. to 4:00 p.m. E.T.). The IIV will be 

calculated by using the prior day’s 

closing NAV per Share as a base and 

updating that value during Regular 

Trading Hours to reflect changes in the 

value of the Trust’s bitcoin holdings 

during the trading day. 

The IIV disseminated during Regular 

Trading Hours should not be viewed as 

an actual real-time update of the NAV, 

which will be calculated only once at 

the end of each trading day. The IIV will 

be widely disseminated on a per Share 

basis every 15 seconds during the 

Exchange’s Regular Trading Hours by 

one or more major market data vendors. 

In addition, the IIV will be available 

through on-line information services. 

The website for the Trust, which will 

be publicly accessible at no charge, will 

contain the following information: (a) 

The current NAV per Share daily and 

the prior business day’s NAV and the 

reported closing price; (b) the BZX 

Official Closing Price 63 in relation to 

the NAV as of the time the NAV is 

calculated and a calculation of the 

premium or discount of such price 

against such NAV; (c) data in chart form 

displaying the frequency distribution of 

discounts and premiums of the Official 

Closing Price against the NAV, within 

appropriate ranges for each of the four 

previous calendar quarters (or for the 

life of the Trust, if shorter); (d) the 

prospectus; and (e) other applicable 

quantitative information. The Trust will 

also disseminate the Trust’s holdings on 

a daily basis on the Trust’s website. The 

price of bitcoin will be made available 

by one or more major market data 

vendors, updated at least every 15 

seconds during Regular Trading Hours. 

The NAV for the Trust will be 

calculated by the Administrator once a 

day and will be disseminated daily to 

all market participants at the same time. 

Quotation and last-sale information 

regarding the Shares will be 

disseminated through the facilities of 

the Consolidated Tape Association 

(‘‘CTA’’). 

Quotation and last sale information 

for bitcoin is widely disseminated 

through a variety of major market data 

vendors, including Bloomberg and 

Reuters. Information relating to trading, 

including price and volume 

information, in bitcoin is available from 

major market data vendors and from the 

exchanges on which bitcoin are traded. 

Depth of book information is also 

available from bitcoin exchanges. The 

normal trading hours for bitcoin 

exchanges are 24 hours per day, 365 

days per year. 

Creation and Redemption of Shares 

According to the Registration 

Statement, on any business day, an 

authorized participant may place an 

order to create one or more baskets. 

Purchase orders must be placed by 4:00 

p.m. Eastern Time, or the close of 

regular trading on the Exchange, 

whichever is earlier. The day on which 

an order is received is considered the 

purchase order date. The total deposit of 

bitcoin required is an amount of bitcoin 

that is in the same proportion to the 

total assets of the Trust, net of accrued 

expenses and other liabilities, on the 

date the order to purchase is properly 

received, as the number of Shares to be 

created under the purchase order is in 

proportion to the total number of Shares 

outstanding on the date the order is 

received. Each night, the Sponsor will 

publish the amount of bitcoin that will 

be required in exchange for each 

creation order. The Administrator 

determines the required deposit for a 

given day by dividing the number of 

bitcoin held by the Trust as of the 

opening of business on that business 

day, adjusted for the amount of bitcoin 

constituting estimated accrued but 

unpaid fees and expenses of the Trust 

as of the opening of business on that 

business day, by the quotient of the 

number of Shares outstanding at the 

opening of business divided by the size 

of a Creation Basket. The procedures by 

which an authorized participant can 

redeem one or more Creation Baskets 

mirror the procedures for the creation of 

Creation Baskets. 

Rule 14.11(e)(4)—Commodity-Based 

Trust Shares 

The Shares will be subject to BZX 

Rule 14.11(e)(4), which sets forth the 

initial and continued listing criteria 

applicable to Commodity-Based Trust 

Shares. The Exchange will obtain a 

representation that the Trust’s NAV will 

be calculated daily and that these values 

and information about the assets of the 

Trust will be made available to all 

market participants at the same time. 

The Exchange notes that, as defined in 

Rule 14.11(e)(4)(C)(i), the Shares will be: 

(a) issued by a trust that holds a 

specified commodity 64 deposited with 

the trust; (b) issued by such trust in a 

specified aggregate minimum number in 

return for a deposit of a quantity of the 

underlying commodity; and (c) when 

aggregated in the same specified 

minimum number, may be redeemed at 

a holder’s request by such trust which 

will deliver to the redeeming holder the 

quantity of the underlying commodity. 

Upon termination of the Trust, the 

Shares will be removed from listing. 

The Trustee, Delaware Trust Company, 

is a trust company having substantial 

capital and surplus and the experience 

and facilities for handling corporate 

trust business, as required under Rule 

14.11(e)(4)(E)(iv)(a) and that no change 

will be made to the trustee without prior 

notice to and approval of the Exchange. 

The Exchange also notes that, pursuant 

to Rule 14.11(e)(4)(F), neither the 

Exchange nor any agent of the Exchange 

shall have any liability for damages, 

claims, losses or expenses caused by 

any errors, omissions or delays in 

calculating or disseminating any 

underlying commodity value, the 

current value of the underlying 

commodity required to be deposited to 

the Trust in connection with issuance of 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares; 

resulting from any negligent act or 

omission by the Exchange, or any agent 

of the Exchange, or any act, condition or 

cause beyond the reasonable control of 

the Exchange or its agent, including, but 

not limited to, an act of God; fire; flood; 

extraordinary weather conditions; war; 

insurrection; riot; strike; accident; 

action of government; communications 

or power failure; equipment or software 

malfunction; or any error, omission or 

delay in the reports of transactions in an 

underlying commodity. Finally, as 

required in Rule 14.11(e)(4)(G), the 

Exchange notes that any registered 

market maker (‘‘Market Maker’’) in the 

Shares must file with the Exchange in 

a manner prescribed by the Exchange 

and keep current a list identifying all 

accounts for trading in an underlying 

commodity, related commodity futures 

or options on commodity futures, or any 

other related commodity derivatives, 

which the registered Market Maker may 

have or over which it may exercise 

investment discretion. No registered 

Market Maker shall trade in an 

underlying commodity, related 

commodity futures or options on 

commodity futures, or any other related 

commodity derivatives, in an account in 

which a registered Market Maker, 

directly or indirectly, controls trading 

activities, or has a direct interest in the 

profits or losses thereof, which has not 

been reported to the Exchange as 

required by this Rule. In addition to the 

existing obligations under Exchange 

rules regarding the production of books 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 47187 

65For a list of the current members and affiliate 

members of ISG, see www.isgportal.com. 

66Regular Trading Hours is the time between 9:30 

a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. 

67 15 U.S.C. 78f. 68 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 69See Exchange Rule 14.11(f). 70Commodity-Based Trust Shares, as described in 

Exchange Rule 14.11(e)(4), are a type of Trust 

Issued Receipt. 71See note 54. 

and records (see, e.g., Rule 4.2), the 

registered Market Maker in CommodityBased Trust Shares shall make available 

to the Exchange such books, records or 

other information pertaining to 

transactions by such entity or registered 

or non-registered employee affiliated 

with such entity for its or their own 

accounts for trading the underlying 

physical commodity, related commodity 

futures or options on commodity 

futures, or any other related commodity 

derivatives, as may be requested by the 

Exchange. 

Trading Halts 

With respect to trading halts, the 

Exchange may consider all relevant 

factors in exercising its discretion to 

halt or suspend trading in the Shares. 

The Exchange will halt trading in the 

Shares under the conditions specified in 

BZX Rule 11.18. Trading may be halted 

because of market conditions or for 

reasons that, in the view of the 

Exchange, make trading in the Shares 

inadvisable. These may include: (1) The 

extent to which trading is not occurring 

in the bitcoin underlying the Shares; or 

(2) whether other unusual conditions or 

circumstances detrimental to the 

maintenance of a fair and orderly 

market are present. Trading in the 

Shares also will be subject to Rule 

14.11(e)(4)(E)(ii), which sets forth 

circumstances under which trading in 

the Shares may be halted. 

Trading Rules 

The Exchange deems the Shares to be 

equity securities, thus rendering trading 

in the Shares subject to the Exchange’s 

existing rules governing the trading of 

equity securities. BZX will allow trading 

in the Shares during all trading sessions 

on the Exchange. The Exchange has 

appropriate rules to facilitate 

transactions in the Shares during all 

trading sessions. As provided in BZX 

Rule 11.11(a), the minimum price 

variation for quoting and entry of orders 

in securities traded on the Exchange is 

$0.01 where the price is greater than 

$1.00 per share or $0.0001 where the 

price is less than $1.00 per share. 

Surveillance 

The Exchange believes that its 

surveillance procedures are adequate to 

properly monitor the trading of the 

Shares on the Exchange during all 

trading sessions and to deter and detect 

violations of Exchange rules and the 

applicable federal securities laws. 

Trading of the Shares through the 

Exchange will be subject to the 

Exchange’s surveillance procedures for 

derivative products, including 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares. The 

issuer has represented to the Exchange 

that it will advise the Exchange of any 

failure by the Trust or the Shares to 

comply with the continued listing 

requirements, and, pursuant to its 

obligations under Section 19(g)(1) of the 

Exchange Act, the Exchange will surveil 

for compliance with the continued 

listing requirements. If the Trust or the 

Shares are not in compliance with the 

applicable listing requirements, the 

Exchange will commence delisting 

procedures under Exchange Rule 14.12. 

The Exchange may obtain information 

regarding trading in the Shares and 

Bitcoin Futures via ISG, from other 

exchanges who are members or affiliates 

of the ISG, or with which the Exchange 

has entered into a comprehensive 

surveillance sharing agreement.65

Information Circular 

Prior to the commencement of 

trading, the Exchange will inform its 

members in an Information Circular of 

the special characteristics and risks 

associated with trading the Shares. 

Specifically, the Information Circular 

will discuss the following: (i) The 

procedures for the creation and 

redemption of Baskets (and that the 

Shares are not individually redeemable); 

(ii) BZX Rule 3.7, which imposes 

suitability obligations on Exchange 

members with respect to recommending 

transactions in the Shares to customers; 

(iii) how information regarding the IIV 

and the Trust’s NAV are disseminated; 

(iv) the risks involved in trading the 

Shares outside of Regular Trading 

Hours 66 when an updated IIV will not 

be calculated or publicly disseminated; 

(v) the requirement that members 

deliver a prospectus to investors 

purchasing newly issued Shares prior to 

or concurrently with the confirmation of 

a transaction; and (vi) trading 

information. 

In addition, the Information Circular 

will advise members, prior to the 

commencement of trading, of the 

prospectus delivery requirements 

applicable to the Shares. Members 

purchasing the Shares for resale to 

investors will deliver a prospectus to 

such investors. The Information Circular 

will also discuss any exemptive, noaction and interpretive relief granted by 

the Commission from any rules under 

the Act. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposal is consistent with Section 6(b) 

of the Act 67 in general and Section 

6(b)(5) of the Act 68 in particular in that 

it is designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices, to 

promote just and equitable principles of 

trade, to foster cooperation and 

coordination with persons engaged in 

facilitating transactions in securities, to 

remove impediments to and perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market 

and a national market system and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. 

The Commission has approved 

numerous series of Trust Issued 

Receipts,69 including Commodity-Based 

Trust Shares,70 to be listed on U.S. 

national securities exchanges. In order 

for any proposed rule change from an 

exchange to be approved, the 

Commission must determine that, 

among other things, the proposal is 

consistent with the requirements of 

Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, specifically 

including: (i) The requirement that a 

national securities exchange’s rules are 

designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices; 71 and 

(ii) the requirement that an exchange 

proposal be designed, in general, to 

protect investors and the public interest. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposal is, in particular, designed to 

protect investors and the public interest. 

With the growth of OTC Bitcoin Funds 

over the past year, so too has grown the 

potential risk to U.S. investors. 

Significant and prolonged premiums 

and discounts, significant premium/ 

discount volatility, high fees, 

insufficient disclosures, and technical 

hurdles are putting U.S. investor money 

at risk on a daily basis, via risks that 

could potentially be eliminated through 

access to a bitcoin ETP. As such, the 

Exchange believes that this proposal 

acts to limit the risk to U.S. investors 

that are increasingly seeking exposure to 

bitcoin through the elimination of 

significant and prolonged premiums 

and discounts, significant premium/ 

discount volatility, the reduction of 

management fees through meaningful 

competition, the avoidance of risks 

associated with investing in operating 

companies that are imperfect proxies for 

bitcoin exposure, and protection from 

risk associated with custodying spot 

bitcoin by providing direct, 1-for-1 

exposure to bitcoin in a regulated, 

transparent, exchange-traded vehicle 

designed to reduce the likelihood of 


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47188 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

72As previously articulated by the Commission, 

‘‘The standard requires such surveillance-sharing 

agreements since ‘‘they provide a necessary 

deterrent to manipulation because they facilitate the 

availability of information needed to fully 

investigate a manipulation if it were to occur.’’ The 

Commission has emphasized that it is essential for 

an exchange listing a derivative securities product 

to enter into a surveillance-sharing agreement with 

markets trading underlying securities for the listing 

exchange to have the ability to obtain information 

necessary to detect, investigate, and deter fraud and 

market manipulation, as well as violations of 

exchange rules and applicable federal securities 

laws and rules. The hallmarks of a surveillancesharing agreement are that the agreement provides 

for the sharing of information about market trading 

activity, clearing activity, and customer identity; 

that the parties to the agreement have reasonable 

ability to obtain access to and produce requested 

information; and that no existing rules, laws, or 

practices would impede one party to the agreement 

from obtaining this information from, or producing 

it to, the other party.’’ The Commission has 

historically held that joint membership in ISG 

constitutes such a surveillance sharing agreement. 

See Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval. The Exchange 

also notes that it has surveillance sharing 

agreements in place with several spot bitcoin 

exchanges. 

73For a list of the current members and affiliate 

members of ISG, see www.isgportal.com. 

74See Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval. 

75See Winklevoss Order at 37580. The 

Commission has also specifically noted that it ‘‘is 

not applying a ‘‘cannot be manipulated’’ standard; 

instead, the Commission is examining whether the 

proposal meets the requirements of the Exchange 

Act and, pursuant to its Rules of Practice, places the 

burden on the listing exchange to demonstrate the 

validity of its contentions and to establish that the 

requirements of the Exchange Act have been met. 

Id. at 37582. 

76These statistics are based on samples of bitcoin 

liquidity in USD (excluding stablecoins or Euro 

liquidity) based on executable quotes on Coinbase 

Pro, Gemini, Bitstamp, Kraken, LMAX Exchange, 

BinanceUS, and OKCoin during February 2021. 

significant and prolonged premiums 

and discounts with its open-ended 

nature as well as the ability of market 

participants (i.e., market makers and 

authorized participants) to create and 

redeem on a daily basis. 

The Exchange also believes that this 

proposal is consistent with the 

requirements of Section 6(b)(5) of the 

Act and that it has sufficiently 

demonstrated that, on the whole, the 

manipulation concerns previously 

articulated by the Commission are 

sufficiently mitigated to the point that 

they are outweighed by quantifiable 

investor protection issues that would be 

resolved by approving this proposal. 

Specifically, the Exchange believes that 

the significant increase in trading 

volume in Bitcoin Futures, the growth 

of liquidity at the inside in the spot 

market for bitcoin, and certain features 

of the Shares mitigate potential 

manipulation concerns to the point that 

the investor protection issues that have 

arisen from the rapid growth of overthe-counter bitcoin funds since the 

Commission last reviewed an exchange 

proposal to list and trade a bitcoin ETP, 

including premium/discount volatility 

and management fees, should be the 

central consideration as the Commission 

determines whether to approve this 

proposal. 

(i) Designed To Prevent Fraudulent and 

Manipulative Acts and Practices 

In order to meet this standard in a 

proposal to list and trade a series of 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares, the 

Commission requires that an exchange 

demonstrate that there is a 

comprehensive surveillance-sharing 

agreement in place 72 with a regulated 

market of significant size. Both the 

Exchange and CME are members of 

ISG.73 The only remaining issue to be 

addressed is whether the Bitcoin 

Futures market constitutes a market of 

significant size, which the Exchange 

believes that it does. The terms 

‘‘significant market’’ and ‘‘market of 

significant size’’ include a market (or 

group of markets) as to which: (a) There 

is a reasonable likelihood that a person 

attempting to manipulate the ETP 

would also have to trade on that market 

to manipulate the ETP, so that a 

surveillance-sharing agreement would 

assist the listing exchange in detecting 

and deterring misconduct; and (b) it is 

unlikely that trading in the ETP would 

be the predominant influence on prices 

in that market.74

The Commission has also recognized 

that the ‘‘regulated market of significant 

size’’ standard is not the only means for 

satisfying Section 6(b)(5) of the act, 

specifically providing that a listing 

exchange could demonstrate that ‘‘other 

means to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices’’ are 

sufficient to justify dispensing with the 

requisite surveillance-sharing 

agreement.75

(a) Manipulation of the ETP 

The significant growth in Bitcoin 

Futures across each of trading volumes, 

open interest, large open interest 

holders, and total market participants 

since the Wilshire Phoenix Disapproval 

was issued are reflective of that market’s 

growing influence on the spot price, 

which according to the academic 

research cited above, was already 

leading the spot price in 2018 and 2019. 

Where Bitcoin Futures lead the price in 

the spot market such that a potential 

manipulator of the bitcoin spot market 

would have to participate in the Bitcoin 

Futures market, it follows that a 

potential manipulator of the Shares 

would similarly have to transact in the 

Bitcoin Futures market because the 

NAV is based on the price of bitcoin on 

the principal market, which identified 

market must be an active market with 

orderly transactions. Further, the Trust 

only allows for in-kind creation and 

redemption, which, as further described 

above, reduces the potential for 

manipulation of the Shares through 

manipulation of the Trust’s 

methodology for calculating NAV or any 

of its individual constituents, again 

emphasizing that a potential 

manipulator of the Shares would have 

to manipulate the entirety of the bitcoin 

spot market, which is led by the Bitcoin 

Futures market. As such, the Exchange 

believes that part (a) of the significant 

market test outlined above is satisfied 

and that common membership in ISG 

between the Exchange and CME would 

assist the listing exchange in detecting 

and deterring misconduct in the Shares. 

(b) Predominant Influence on Prices in 

Spot and Bitcoin Futures 

The Exchange also believes that 

trading in the Shares would not be the 

predominant force on prices in the 

Bitcoin Futures market (or spot market) 

for a number of reasons, including the 

significant volume in the Bitcoin 

Futures market, the size of bitcoin’s 

market cap (approximately $1 trillion), 

and the significant liquidity available in 

the spot market. In addition to the 

Bitcoin Futures market data points cited 

above, the spot market for bitcoin is also 

very liquid. According to data from 

CoinRoutes from February 2021, the 

cost to buy or sell $5 million worth of 

bitcoin averages roughly 10 basis points 

with a market impact of 30 basis 

points.76 For a $10 million market order, 

the cost to buy or sell is roughly 20 basis 

points with a market impact of 50 basis 

points. Stated another way, a market 

participant could enter a market buy or 

sell order for $10 million of bitcoin and 

only move the market 0.5%. More 

strategic purchases or sales (such as 

using limit orders and executing 

through OTC bitcoin trade desks) would 

likely have less obvious impact on the 

market—which is consistent with 

MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Square being 

able to collectively purchase billions of 

dollars in bitcoin. As such, the 

combination of Bitcoin Futures leading 

price discovery, the overall size of the 

bitcoin market, and the ability for 

market participants, including 

authorized participants creating and 

redeeming in-kind with the Trust, to 

buy or sell large amounts of bitcoin 

without significant market impact will 

help prevent the Shares from becoming 

the predominant force on pricing in 

either the bitcoin spot or Bitcoin 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 47189 

77These statistics are based on samples of bitcoin 

liquidity in USD (excluding stablecoins or Euro 

liquidity) based on executable quotes on Coinbase 

Pro, Gemini, Bitstamp, Kraken, LMAX Exchange, 

BinanceUS, and OKCoin during February 2021. 

Futures markets, satisfying part (b) of 

the test outlined above. 

(c) Other Means To Prevent Fraudulent 

and Manipulative Acts and Practices 

As noted above, the Commission also 

permits a listing exchange to 

demonstrate that ‘‘other means to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices’’ are sufficient to 

justify dispensing with the requisite 

surveillance-sharing agreement. The 

Exchange believes that such conditions 

are present. Specifically, the significant 

liquidity in the spot market and the 

impact of market orders on the overall 

price of bitcoin mean that attempting to 

move the price of bitcoin is costly and 

has grown more expensive over the past 

year. In January 2020, for example, the 

cost to buy or sell $5 million worth of 

bitcoin averaged roughly 30 basis points 

(compared to 10 basis points in 2/2021) 

with a market impact of 50 basis points 

(compared to 30 basis points in 2/ 

2021).77 For a $10 million market order, 

the cost to buy or sell was roughly 50 

basis points (compared to 20 basis 

points in 2/2021) with a market impact 

of 80 basis points (compared to 50 basis 

points in 2/2021). As the liquidity in the 

bitcoin spot market increases, it follows 

that the impact of $5 million and $10 

million orders will continue to decrease 

the overall impact in spot price. 

Additionally, offering only in-kind 

creation and redemption will provide 

unique protections against potential 

attempts to manipulate the Shares. 

While the Sponsor believes that the 

methodology which it uses to value the 

Trust’s bitcoin is itself resistant to 

manipulation based on the methodology 

further described below, the fact that 

creations and redemptions are only 

available in-kind makes the valuation 

methodology significantly less 

important. Specifically, because the 

Trust will not accept cash to buy bitcoin 

in order to create new shares, will 

charge fees as a percentage of the Trust’s 

bitcoin holdings measure in bitcoin and 

not in dollars, and, barring a forced 

redemption of the Trust or under other 

extraordinary circumstances, will not be 

forced to sell bitcoin to pay cash for 

redeemed shares, the price that the 

Sponsor uses to value the Trust’s bitcoin 

is not particularly important. When 

authorized participants are creating 

with the Trust, they need to deliver a 

certain number of bitcoin per share 

(regardless of the valuation used) and 

when they’re redeeming, they can 

similarly expect to receive a certain 

number of bitcoin per share. As such, 

even if the price used to value the 

Trust’s bitcoin is manipulated (which 

the Sponsor believes that its 

methodology is resistant to), the ratio of 

bitcoin per Share does not change and 

the Trust will either accept (for 

creations) or distribute (for 

redemptions) the same number of 

bitcoin regardless of the value. This not 

only mitigates the risk associated with 

potential manipulation, but also 

discourages and disincentivizes 

manipulation of the valuation 

methodology because there is little 

financial incentive to do so. 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices in that the Shares will 

be listed on the Exchange pursuant to 

the initial and continued listing criteria 

in Exchange Rule 14.11(e)(4). The 

Exchange believes that its surveillance 

procedures are adequate to properly 

monitor the trading of the Shares on the 

Exchange during all trading sessions 

and to deter and detect violations of 

Exchange rules and the applicable 

federal securities laws. Trading of the 

Shares through the Exchange will be 

subject to the Exchange’s surveillance 

procedures for derivative products, 

including Commodity-Based Trust 

Shares. The issuer has represented to 

the Exchange that it will advise the 

Exchange of any failure by the Trust or 

the Shares to comply with the 

continued listing requirements, and, 

pursuant to its obligations under 

Section 19(g)(1) of the Exchange Act, the 

Exchange will surveil for compliance 

with the continued listing requirements. 

If the Trust or the Shares are not in 

compliance with the applicable listing 

requirements, the Exchange will 

commence delisting procedures under 

Exchange Rule 14.12. The Exchange 

may obtain information regarding 

trading in the Shares and listed bitcoin 

derivatives via the ISG, from other 

exchanges who are members or affiliates 

of the ISG, or with which the Exchange 

has entered into a comprehensive 

surveillance sharing agreement. 

Availability of Information 

The Exchange also believes that the 

proposal promotes market transparency 

in that a large amount of information is 

currently available about bitcoin and 

will be available regarding the Trust and 

the Shares. In addition to the price 

transparency related to the price of 

bitcoin, the Trust will provide 

information regarding the Trust’s 

bitcoin holdings as well as additional 

data regarding the Trust. The Trust will 

provide an IIV per Share updated every 

15 seconds, as calculated by the 

Exchange or a third-party financial data 

provider during the Exchange’s Regular 

Trading Hours (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

E.T.). The IIV will be calculated by 

using the prior day’s closing NAV per 

Share as a base and updating that value 

during Regular Trading Hours to reflect 

changes in the value of the Trust’s 

bitcoin holdings during the trading day. 

The IIV disseminated during Regular 

Trading Hours should not be viewed as 

an actual real-time update of the NAV, 

which will be calculated only once at 

the end of each trading day. The IIV will 

be widely disseminated on a per Share 

basis every 15 seconds during the 

Exchange’s Regular Trading Hours by 

one or more major market data vendors. 

In addition, the IIV will be available 

through on-line information services. 

The website for the Trust, which will 

be publicly accessible at no charge, will 

contain the following information: (a) 

The current NAV per Share daily and 

the prior business day’s NAV and the 

reported closing price; (b) the BZX 

Official Closing Price in relation to the 

NAV as of the time the NAV is 

calculated and a calculation of the 

premium or discount of such price 

against such NAV; (c) data in chart form 

displaying the frequency distribution of 

discounts and premiums of the Official 

Closing Price against the NAV, within 

appropriate ranges for each of the four 

previous calendar quarters (or for the 

life of the Trust, if shorter); (d) the 

prospectus; and (e) other applicable 

quantitative information. The Trust will 

also disseminate the Trust’s holdings on 

a daily basis on the Trust’s website. The 

price of bitcoin will be made available 

by one or more major market data 

vendors, updated at least every 15 

seconds during Regular Trading Hours. 

The NAV for the Trust will be 

calculated by the Administrator once a 

day and will be disseminated daily to 

all market participants at the same time. 

Quotation and last-sale information 

regarding the Shares will be 

disseminated through the facilities of 

the CTA. 

Quotation and last sale information 

for bitcoin is widely disseminated 

through a variety of major market data 

vendors, including Bloomberg and 

Reuters. Information relating to trading, 

including price and volume 

information, in bitcoin is available from 

major market data vendors and from the 

exchanges on which bitcoin are traded. 

Depth of book information is also 

available from bitcoin exchanges. The 

normal trading hours for bitcoin 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
47190 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 160 / Monday, August 23, 2021 / Notices 

78 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

exchanges are 24 hours per day, 365 

days per year 

For the above reasons, the Exchange 

believes that the proposed rule change 

is consistent with the requirements of 

Section 6(b)(5) of the Act. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will impose 

any burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purpose of the Act. The Exchange 

notes that the proposed rule change, 

rather will facilitate the listing and 

trading of an additional exchange-traded 

product that will enhance competition 

among both market participants and 

listing venues, to the benefit of investors 

and the marketplace. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

The Exchange has neither solicited 

nor received written comments on the 

proposed rule change. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 45 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period 

up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may 

designate if it finds such longer period 

to be appropriate and publishes its 

reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which 

the Exchange consents, the Commission 

will: 

A. By order approve or disapprove 

such proposed rule change, or 

B. institute proceedings to determine 

whether the proposed rule change 

should be disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

CboeBZX–2021–052 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to: Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–CboeBZX–2021–052. This 

file number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549 on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–CboeBZX–2021–052 and 

should be submitted on or before 

September 13, 2021. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.78

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–17965 Filed 8–20–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meeting; Cancellation 

FEDERAL REGISTER CITATION OF PREVIOUS

ANNOUNCEMENT: 86 FR 45795, August 

16, 2021. 

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED TIME AND DATE OF

THE MEETING: Thursday, August 19, 2021 

at 2:00 p.m. 

CHANGES IN THE MEETING: The Closed 

Meeting scheduled for Thursday, 

August 19, 2021 at 2:00 p.m., has been 

cancelled. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

For further information; please contact 

Vanessa A. Countryman from the Office 

of the Secretary at (202) 551–5400. 

Dated: August 19, 2021. 

Vanessa A. Countryman, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18173 Filed 8–19–21; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION 

[Docket No: SSA–2021–0030] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Request 

The Social Security Administration 

(SSA) publishes a list of information 

collection packages requiring clearance 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) in compliance with 

Public Law 104–13, the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 

1, 1995. This notice includes revisions 

of OMB-approved information 

collections. 

SSA is soliciting comments on the 

accuracy of the agency’s burden 

estimate; the need for the information; 

its practical utility; ways to enhance its 

quality, utility, and clarity; and ways to 

minimize burden on respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. Mail, email, or 

fax your comments and 

recommendations on the information 

collection(s) to the OMB Desk Officer 

and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 

the following addresses or fax numbers. 

(OMB) Office of Management and 

Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 

Comments: https://www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Submit your 

comments online referencing Docket 

ID Number [SSA–2021–0030]. 

(SSA) Social Security Administration, 

OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance 

Director, 3100 West High Rise, 6401 

Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235, 

Fax: 410–966–2830, Email address: 

OR.Reports.Clearance@ssa.gov. 

Or you may submit your comments 

online through https://www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain, referencing Docket 

ID Number [SSA–2021–0030]. 

The information collections below are 

pending at SSA. SSA will submit them 

to OMB within 60 days from the date of 

this notice. To be sure we consider your 

comments, we must receive them no 

later than October 19, 2021. Individuals 

can obtain copies of the collection 

instruments by writing to the above 

email address. 

1. Certificate of Support—20 CFR 

404.370, 404.408a, and 404.750—0960– 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES