Fidelity Investments, one of the largest mutual fund companies in the US, might be closer to filing an application for approval of their own spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). Speculations, which first appeared almost two weeks ago, have been confirmed by a source familiar with the company's plans, The Block reported yesterday (Tuesday).

Fidelity Joins the Bitcoin ETF Race

More large companies joined the race after BlackRock filed its own application to establish a spot Bitcoin ETF on 15 June. Invesco, WisdomTree, and Bitwise have also submitted their inquiries.

For some time now, there has been strong speculation that Fidelity Investments would take a similar step, as it had already presented similar plans in 2021.

Although it was unsuccessful two years ago and the application was finally rejected in early 2022 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ), the company reportedly made another attempt.

The Block claims that the sources familiar with the matter suggested the possibility of filing such an application this week. However, Fidelity refused to comment on these rumors.

Interestingly, ARK Investment Management had submitted a similar application to the SEC long before BlackRock filed its own spot Bitcoin ETF application. The fund, owned by famous investor Cathie Wood reported this in April.

Cryptocurrency ETFs Attract Record Amounts of Cash

Applications from companies such as BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco, and supposedly Fidelity have sparked a new fever in the digital assets market. Wall Street giants seem to be trying to grab a piece of the cryptocurrency pie since the United States has dealt with 'unregulated' exchanges like Binance and Coinbase.

The price of Bitcoin has bounced back by over 25% in a week, testing new annual highs and growing by 80% since the start of the year. However, network activity does not show either an increase in new users or higher volumes. The recent move was purely speculative and resulted from a record inflow of cash into existing cryptocurrency ETFs.

While the SEC has not agreed for years to create a spot Bitcoin ETF, it has allowed trading exchange-traded funds based on the valuation of crypto futures contracts. One of the first was ProShares' BITO Bitcoin, which is mainly popular among institutional investors.

According to the latest data, BITO received an additional $65.3 million in just one week. Last Friday, the fund traded 500 million shares, one of the five best results in its history.

However, the growing popularity of regulated cryptocurrency instruments might not please Bitcoin's creator, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin was supposed to be an alternative to the world of traditional finance. Nevertheless, the latest events show that its price has been rising in recent weeks solely thanks to 'old economy companies.