This news comes as the SEC maintains its strong position on physical crypto ETFs while also allowing a number of sector ETFs with indirect crypto exposure.
Two major Bitcoin exchange-traded fund proposals were postponed by the SEC on Wednesday, including NYSE Arca’s “real” Bitcoin ETF, dubbed Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s Bitcoin ETF.
Bitwise’s BTC ETF and Grayscale’s BTC ETF are now expected to be approved or disapproved, or “institute procedures to determine whether to disapprove,” by the SEC on February 1 and February 6, respectively.
In both notices, the SEC stated, “The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has ample time to examine the proposed rule change and any comments received.”
Bitwise Asset Management filed for a physical-backed Bitcoin ETF on Oct. 14, with the intention of providing exposure to “real BTC” rather than derivatives such as Bitcoin futures or other indirect exposure, as previously reported. In November, the firm canceled its own Bitcoin futures-based ETF application, since many of these products were launching in the US.
Grayscale is the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, with $45.6 billion in assets under management. On Oct. 19, the business filed an application to convert its flagship Bitcoin product to an ETF.
The latest news comes as the SEC maintains its strong position on physical crypto ETFs while approving a number of sector ETFs with indirect crypto exposure, like investing firm ProShares’ BTC futures ETF. After delaying a decision in June, the SEC rejected a sport Bitcoin ETF proposed by asset manager WisdomTree in early December.
VanEck, one of the world’s first companies to file for a Bitcoin ETF, had a physical Bitcoin ETF denied by the SEC in November. Despite this, the company chose to create a Bitcoin futures ETF on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
