LPL Financial to evaluate spot Bitcoin ETFs ‘three months’ before joining the market

LPL Financial, the largest U.S. independent broker-dealer, takes a measured approach, conducting a three-month evaluation before entering the spot Bitcoin ETF market.

The San Diego-headquartered broker-dealer is planning a thorough three-month evaluation before deciding to join the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) market, citing concerns that some of the ETFs might eventually shut down, causing problems for advisers.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Rob Pettman, executive vice president of products and platform management at LPL Financial, said that the $1.4 trillion investment giant wants first to see “how they work in the markets,” before decide which funds the firm wants to offer.

Pettman added that the firm will open doors for financial advisers to purchase Grayscale‘s GBTC ETF given the fund existed in a trust structure and was available on LPL Financial before converting to an ETF. However, speaking of the other nine funds, including BlackRock, Pettman said the firm wants to evaluate those funds in the first place.

“Time is going to tell on the investment thesis. And that’s essentially what we’re monitoring at the moment.”

Rob Pettman

The LPL Financial executive is not the first one on the crypto market to expect a change in the pool of spot Bitcoin ETF providers, as Pettman’s cautious approach aligns with a broader sentiment in the crypto market.

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein, for instance, previously noted that less than five Bitcoin ETFs would eventually survive in the long run, with even fewer achieving “critical mass.” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz also anticipates a resizing of the spot Bitcoin ETF market, foreseeing only two to three winners in the space.

As of press time, the nine new spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold nearly 178,000 BTC worth over $7.6 billion, according to financial data.