Global X Refiles Spot-Bitcoin ETF Application, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner

Global X has filed an application to list a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) product, joining other industry players aiming to offer bitcoin-based investment offerings, a Friday filing shows.

If approved, the fund would grant investors "exposure to bitcoin with important protections that are not always available to investors that invest directly in bitcoin," lawyers said in the filing. Global X's spot-bitcoin applications marks the ninth active spot-bitcoin application filed with U.S. regulators, in addition to a petition by Grayscale to appeal the SEC's rejection of its proposed spot-bitcoin ETF conversion (Grayscale is a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent company Digital Currency Group).

Global X, a provider of other ETF products, has named Coinbase as its surveillance-sharing partner to get the go-ahead from regulators.

Several other pending applications, including those on behalf of Fidelity and BlackRock, have also announced surveillance-sharing agreements with the exchange, in response to previous SEC rejections of bitcoin ETF applications which called out the lack of a strong surveillance-sharing agreement as one issue.

In addition to filing its spot-bitcoin ETF application, GlobalX has also filed for permission to create a bitcoin-futures ETF. Last month, the company also filed to establish a fund that tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin Trend Indicator Index. CoinDesk Indices belongs to the CoinDesk family of companies.