As for the process duration, yes. But there will be a good amount of positive and negative rumours I'm sure.
Didn't Fidelity try the same thing a few years ago? If we look at data from the end of 2022, Fidelity has as many as $10 + trillion assets under management, while BlackRock has only $8.59 trillion. I agree that BlackRock has probably the best chance of being the first to launch the ETF spot, although there has been news that Fidelity will also enter the race, with its spot ETF and with the offer to take over Grayscale.
I just want to say that no matter what the decision will eventually be, all those years when the first BTC ETF was awaited and the fact that almost nothing serious happened when the first futures BTC ETF was approved certainly leave a mark on the average investor who does not understand why this time something should be different.