The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly offered feedback to potential issuers of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after they submitted documents disclosing service fees for their proposed offerings yesterday, January 8, 2023.
Some members of the crypto community pointed out that the SEC’s swift feedback before it is mandated to reach a final decision on some of these applications is a sign that it is seeking to delay the process once again. Notably, one of the multiple applications, the one submitted by Ark and 21 Shares, has a deadline of January 10, 2024 – just a day away.
1. This is true, comments came back on those S-1 documents with the fees that we all went crazy over this morning (this isn’t out of ordinary)
2. Expect to see more amendments tomorrow because of this
3. That said — I don’t think this is necessarily a delay signal https://t.co/o2m0lIBSct— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 9, 2024
Responding to these claims in a post on X, James Seyffart, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst closely monitoring the developments in the bitcoin ETF space, said that it was almost unprecedented for applicants to receive a same-day response from the SEC for revised filings.
Really this just shows how quickly the SEC is turning these things around. Borderline unheard of to send over a document to the SEC in the morning and get comments back the same day (I think)
If they wanted to delay — the issuers wouldn’t have gotten comments back tonight
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 9, 2024
Despite a historical trend of the SEC rejecting every application for spot bitcoin ETFs dating back to 2013, the recent surge in revised filings and prompt responses has fueled optimism within the industry. In recent weeks, there has been a surge in revised filings by issuers, reflecting ongoing discussions with SEC officials.
The substantial feedback and engagement between issuers and SEC officials suggest that the nearly dozen applications may be moving closer to approval even though there is no public indication of the potential decisions.
The optimism received an additional boost when major exchanges such as Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX submitted amended 19b-4 documents on Friday, reportedly aligning with the S-1 filings.
Despite this optimism, Matrixport analyst Markus Thielen has predicted that the regulator might reject all Bitcoin ETF proposals due to unresolved political dynamics influencing the decision-making process.
Meanwhile, BlackRock has reportedly re-submitted an updated version of its applications based on the regulator’s fresh comments. Though it is still unclear what the changes are, this latest update suggests an ongoing and active dialogue between SEC officials and the potential ETF issuers, many of whom initially proposed the creation of spot bitcoin ETFs last summer.
BlackRock just re-filed their S-1 based on last min comments given yesterday. Hard to tell what has changed at first glance, but imp thing is that the unheard of 24hr turnaround time bt filing, comments and re-filing tells us all parties aiming to get this show on road pronto. pic.twitter.com/61cPtGJ4Oy
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 9, 2024
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