To date, the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved only exchange-traded funds tied to bitcoin futures contracts
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has eight to 10 filings of possible exchange-traded products for bitcoin in front of it for consideration, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Thursday.
Bitcoin has rallied this week on bets that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval is almost certain for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) – seen as a driver of demand as it would let investors get direct exposure to the world’s largest crypto currency through an exchange-listed product.
To date, the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved only exchange-traded funds tied to bitcoin futures contracts.
The original crypto currency was 1.6 per cent lower at $33,958 in mid-day trading, after adding around 14 per cent so far this week.
They will come potentially to the five-member commission. I am not going to prejudge them but I do not have anything on timing, Gensler said. They all have various different filing dates.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest application is at the top of the filings. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s 240-day comment period for that application expires on January 10, 2024; regulators must either reject or approve it by that date.
BlackRock, Bitwise, WisdomTree, Fidelity and Invesco are among several other companies with pending applications for bitcoin funds in the U.S.
Expectation around spot exchange-traded funds has been increasing after the Securities and Exchange Commission chose not to appeal a court ruling it had been wrong to refuse an application from Grayscale Investments to convert its existing bitcoin trust into a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
The court has instructed the agency to reconsider that decision.
