2 years ago
241 The United States States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has thwarted the hopes of investors that were waiting to see and invest in a spot Bitcoin ETF on US soil. Their hopes were dashed after the watchdog rejected VanEck’s application to launch the BTC product.
Today, VanEck remains to be one of the most active firms in terms of filing with the SEC to launch a Bitcoin ETF. It has now filed many applications and while some have now been rejected by the agency, others were withdrawn by the firm itself.
The prospect of an ETF in the US improved a bit in October when the SEC approved two futures-based Bitcoin ETFs. One of these products was VanEck’s Strategy ETF. Most assumed that the Commission would prove to be lenient towards a spot exchange-traded fund tracking the performance of the biggest crypto after the news was published in October.
But that has not been the case. The SEC rejected VanEck’s spot Bitcoin ETF application and restrained CBOE BZX Exchange from the listing it shares in its latest filing. According to the document:
“This order disapproves the proposed rule change. The Commission concludes that BZX has not met its burden under the Exchange Act.”
The SEC also said that BZX and VanEck could not deal with several lingering issues, which were:
“designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” and “to protect investors and the public interest.”
While commenting on this matter, the commission’s chair, Gary Gensler, said that a futures-backed ETF would be a lot safer for the investors. Therefore, only such funds have been approved so far in the United States.
As anticipated, VanEck’s Director of Digital Assets felt quite dismayed by that decision.
There is no good reason why not to approve a physical Bitcoin ETF while allowing Bitcoin futures ETFs at high-roll cost and Bitcoin closed end funds at double-digit premiums + no redemption capability. The physical Bitcoin ETF is arguably the most investor friendly option today.
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) November 12, 2021
