The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has taken on six more bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications for review. It appears the hype and hoopla surrounding the present BlackRock application has got everyone in a big, powerful huff, and they want to take part in the action.
The SEC Accepts Six More BTC ETF Applications for Review
The move is relatively contradictory to the comments made by a string of analysts, recently. They had mentioned that they didn’t think BlackRock would pave the way for additional ETF attempts, but based on this information, it appears those analysts were not correct. They stated in various interviews that there were still many barricades that crypto companies were facing when it came to bitcoin spot trading, and thus they would either be hesitant to submit materials, or they would simply be turned down straight away by the SEC.
One such analyst to throw his two cents into the mix was chief investment officer of Volatility Shares Stuart Barton, who recently garnered approval for a futures-based bitcoin ETF. Barton said the crypto space is largely unregulated, which is why the SEC was arguably turning down crypto ETF applications left and right. He stated:
The hold-up is because of the unregulated nature of crypto exchanges. It takes a long time for an exchange to become regulated. That is a multi-year process. That’s a step before we get to an ETF approval. There’s no exchange on which bitcoin trades that is regulated… The weakness of an application that needs 19b-4 is that you need a specific approval ruling to list from the SEC, and that puts the SEC in a very powerful position. They don’t have to argue with you [about] whether this is a good investment. They get to drill down because you’re really asking them, ‘Please, can we change the rules of our exchange in order to list this new underlying product as a new ETF?’ Very few 19b-4s get filed, and it’s a very long process.
Hedge fund manager James Koutoulas was also quick to say that crypto ETFs would have a hard time getting seen in the right light by the SEC despite the hard work from BlackRock. He stated:
It’s not a foregone conclusion that an ETF will be approved. You just [need] to look at the conflicts (example: lawsuit against Coinbase) for that.
Which Companies Want In?
Right now, the six new ETF applications in question come from a wide array of companies including Van Eck (which has thrown its hat into the crypto ETF ring multiple times), Wisdom Tree, Fidelity, and Invesco.
Despite companies like BlackRock allegedly making waves in this arena, one needs to remember that the SEC has, many times, turned down crypto ETF applications without thinking twice.
