BlackRock to cut 3% of workforce ahead of Bitcoin ETF deadline: Report
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is said to be planning to cut its global workforce by around 3% this week.
This comes in the midst of BlackRock's expectation of receiving good news from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
On January 6, Fox Business reports, citing people familiar with the matter, that about 600 employees will be laid off as part of a regular internal adjustment and will be based on employee performance over the past twelve months.
Additionally, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF application is expected to be approved on January 10 – the same day the SEC has a deadline to approve or reject the ARK 21 Shares spot Bitcoin ETF.
However, the SEC filing deadline for BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF is January 15.
Related: BlackRock, Van Eck, Valkyrie File Last Minute Bitcoin ETF Updates
This rush to update forms comes after Bitcoin ETF applicants filed with the SEC this week.
On January 5, BlackRock filed a 19b-4 amendment to its spot BTC ETF application.
all right. @BlackRock 19b-4 update also filed. Expect to see 11 of these tonight: pic.twitter.com/6ztAlBbH2s
— James Seyff (@JSeyff) January 5, 2024
The filing was made on the same day as other asset managers including Valkyrie, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck and WisdomTree.
These documents are one of the final steps in the SEC approval process. But completing S-1 filings is necessary for US exchanges to list investment securities with direct exposure to crypto.
Meanwhile, in December 2023, Cointelegraph reported that BlackRock made changes to its Bitcoin ETF application to allow Wall Street banks to participate in the fund by creating new shares exclusively in crypto.
The in-kind redemption model allows major banks to serve as authorized participants for the fund. It allows them to bypass restrictions that prevent them from directly holding Bitcoin or crypto on their accounts.
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