Bitcoin has received a new injection of confidence with the addition of five large companies as “authorized participants” in the spot ETF managed by BlackRock.

Among these companies, important names such as Goldman Sachs , leader in financial services, stand out; closely followed by Citigroup, UBS, Citadel Securities and ABN AMOR, as indicated in a document submitted by the company to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

These companies join a group that already included Jane Street Capital, JPMorgan, Macquarie and Virtu Americas, bringing the total number of authorized participants to nine.

In the case of Goldman Sachs, one of the largest and most prestigious investment banking and financial services firms in the world, it was in talks since January to participate in the BlackRock ETF.

This despite Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs stating two days ago that they do not believe cryptocurrencies are an investment asset class. “We don't believe in cryptocurrencies,” Ella noted.

The Importance of Authorized Participants for the Bitcoin ETF

But what does it mean to be an authorized participant in an ETF and why is this incorporation relevant? Authorized participants play a critical role in the operation and liquidity of exchange-traded funds. Its main task includes the creation and redemption of ETF units, which helps maintain a balance in the market and ensure smooth trading.

When there is demand for an ETF, authorized participants purchase the underlying assets and deliver them to the fund, receiving new units of the ETF in return, in a process known as "creation." Conversely, if there is excess supply, authorized participants can redeem units of the ETF for the underlying assets, known as a “swap.” This dynamic ensures the liquidity of the ETF and balances supply and demand in the market.

The arrival of these companies to the BlackRock ETF is a bullish indicator for the price of bitcoin. This ETF, which has already accumulated more than 260,000 BTC since its launch last January, has established itself as one of the largest players in this sector.

With the price of bitcoin currently trading around $69,300, the entry of new giants through BlackRock could further boost confidence in BTC, whose market also has its eyes on the halving, which will occur in a couple of weeks.