Grayscale Pushes SEC to Approve Spot Bitcoin ETF

Grayscale’s lawyers argued that the SEC should conclude that it has no grounds to treat GBTC differently than Bitcoin Futures ETFs.

Grayscale Investments is putting pressure on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve its bid to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Following its court victory last week, in which U.S. Court of Appeals Circuit Judge Neomi Rao vacated the SEC’s rejection of Grayscale’s application; the firm now seeks to meet with the securities regulator to discuss the way forward. 

In a letter addressed to the SEC on Sept. 5, Grayscale’s lawyers said that the court’s opinion and comments from NYSE Arca and the public should lead the Commission to the conclusion that there are no grounds for treating GBTC differently from other exchange traded products that invest in Bitcoin futures contract traded on the CME.

“But now that the Court of Appeals has spoken, there is no available rationale that would distinguish a bitcoin futures ETP from a spot bitcoin ETP under the legal analysis previously adopted by the Commission in rejecting spot bitcoin ETP,” stated Grayscale’s lawyers.

Grayscale’s letter comes less than a week after the SEC delayed its decision on six other applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF, including one filed by investment giant BlackRock, pushing the new deadline to October.

(In this episode of Unchained, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas discusses what the SEC’s two most likely responses to the ruling are likely to be, and why a spot Bitcoin ETF would pose a serious threat to crypto exchanges.)