The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Delays Decision on Bitcoin ETF Applications
krblokhin
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday delayed making a decision on spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications filed by Wall Street heavyweights Invesco (IVZ), Fidelity Investments, Valkyrie, Bitwise and WisdomTree (WT), according to documents posted on its website.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD), already down big before the news, was off 4.9% to $25.9K at 5:26 p.m. ET. That was before the token rallied to as high as $27.9K on Tuesday, when judges overturned an SEC decision to block Grayscale Investments from converting its bitcoin trust (OTC:GBTC) into an ETF that invests directly in bitcoin (BTC-USD).
Crypto proponents have argued that a spot BTC ETF would save investors the difficulties of buying the underlying token directly while enabling more investment from retail market participants in the space. Fundstrat Global Advisors Co-Founder Tom Lee predicted earlier this month that bitcoin (BTC-USD) could surge to $150K if such a product gets approved.
The new deadline for the SEC to address Bitwise’s application is end of Friday. The regulator will need to weigh in on WisdomTree’s (WT) proposal by October 17, and Valkyrie’s on October 19.
On August 11, the SEC extended making a decision on whether to approve ARK Investment Management’s proposed spot BTC ETF.
