Expectations are high for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve the listing of shares of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on exchanges for the first time by Jan. 10. However, the nature of this approval remains uncertain.
Despite positive indications, there is no absolute guarantee that the SEC will approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. Several asset managers have completed some of the final stages of paperwork, including filing form 19b-4 amendments on Jan. 5 and amended form S-1 filings on Jan. 8. It’s worth noting that the SEC has never approved a spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded product for U.S. exchanges, and only in 2021 began to allow ETFs with exposure to crypto futures. A court ruling in October forced the commission to revisit a spot Bitcoin ETF application from Grayscale Investments, but the SEC could still deny an investment vehicle for different reasons.
Analysts speculate that if the SEC approves at least one spot Bitcoin ETF application, more approvals could follow. Asset managers including Valkyrie, WisdomTree, BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco and Galaxy, Grayscale, Fidelity, Bitwise and Franklin Templeton could see approval on Jan. 10 as the SEC addresses the deadline for an ETF proposed by ARK Invest and 21Shares. BlackRock reportedly plans to acquire $10 million worth of BTC as initial funding for its ETF, and companies have become competitive in listing sponsor fees for their ETF offerings — e.g. 0.25% from ARK Invest and 0.24% from Bitwise.
Juan Aranovich of Ryze Labs suggests that if the BTC ETF gets approved, there might be significant increases in the infrastructure, meme coins, and application projects related to the BTC ecosystem. However, if the BTC ETF is not approved, the tokens of related ecosystem projects might experience even more severe declines.
There is also a possibility that the SEC could approve some applications from asset managers but reject others. The reasoning for such decisions would have to stand up to scrutiny. Given the similarities between applications, it’s unlikely that the commission could deny one based on concerns over investor protection and potential market manipulation — as it has previously stated — and approve another. The commission faces a Jan. 10 final deadline for the ETF proposed by ARK Invest and 21Shares, but decisions on many others could be deferred until March and beyond, depending on the filing dates. Some experts suggest this is an unlikely outcome but cannot offer 100% certainty that the SEC won’t do an about-face based on the filings over the last seven days.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Juan Aranovich |
| Companies | Valkyrie, Bitwise, BlackRock, 21Shares, WisdomTree, Ryze Labs, Galaxy, VanEck, Invesco, ARK Invest, Grayscale Investments, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
