The SEC has requested that issuers have their authorized participant agreement – describing who will play the key role of creating and redeeming ETF shares – available in the coming days. Authorized participants are a central part of the ETF business, but this job will be a particularly tough one, with bitcoin ETF APs needing basic knowledge of digital assets and the ability to provide safekeeping and custody, conduct due diligence for anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer purposes, ensure compliance with sanctions regulations, deal and place crypto asset orders on behalf of clients, and so on. Not many traditional brokerages are well-equipped to do this.
