Digital asset fund manager Grayscale has filed an amended application to convert its GBTC product into an ETF.
Grayscale Investments changed the name of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) product to a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by submitting an updated S-3 Form to the SEC.
ETF specialist James Seyffart claims this is Grayscale’s third modified application towards their GBTC conversion. The company previously filed a form of this nature after Chairman Barry Silbert left.
Eric Balchunas, senior analyst at Bloomberg, pointed out that the SEC filing verified a shift towards cash-create subscriptions. However, Grayscale withheld information regarding its fund’s Authorised Participants (APs).
This submittal also omitted the fee. It has been claimed that before ETFs are listed and made available for trading, the SEC would demand that issuers provide information on both.
BlackRock has already submitted its revised S-1 application along with the AP disclosures. The trillion-dollar asset management assigned two APs to Wall Street titans JPMorgan and Jane Street.
If the fund experiences poor returns, these APs will serve as underwriters for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, ensuring payment and redemptions. According to Fox News sources, the Securities and Exchange Commission may take a while to decide whether to approve at least one issuer before deciding on spot Bitcoin ETFs.
This might happen until January 10th. On prediction platforms like Polymarket, traders have been on the approval timeline in the interim. Incredibly, 90% of bettors on the website want a judgement by January 15; as of the time of publication, a contract had almost half a million dollars locked in.
Although the consensus is that a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF is imminent, there are differing opinions about how it would affect the cryptocurrency market. One of the 14 filers, VanEck, stated that approvals would not affect price. On the other hand, BitMEX anticipates significant influxes of Bitcoin following an SEC approval.
