The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set a further timeframe for reviewing proposed rule changes to list various Bitcoin funds (ETFs) of GraniteShares, Direxion, and ProShares.
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New opportunity for a Bitcoin ETF
So far, the SEC has rejected any of the previously proposed rule changes. In light of the heated debate triggered by the SEC’s decisions, the SEC resumed its review of GraniteShares, Direxion and ProShares’ applications. The documents published by the SEC on October 4 indicate that a total of nine separate ETFs that could be listed on the NYSE Arca and the CBOE are affected.
As part of this process, the agency has amended the NYSE Arca and CBOE applications to include information in the funds that will subsequently be submitted by the exchange operators to the agency.
As part of this process, the SEC requested “any party or another person” to file a written statement either endorsing or disapproving the ETFs within the time period provided before the deadline of October 26. In the meantime, the previous orders rejecting the proposed rule changes will remain in force.
As reported by Coin Update, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the applicants’ applications as early as August. The justification stated that the products did not meet the requirement of Exchange Act Section 6 (b) (5), with particular reference to the requirement that “the rules of a national stock exchange should prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices”. Only one day later, the SEC announced that it would review the proposals submitted by the applicants.
Proposal Differences
Shortly thereafter, the deadline for another application for a physically secured Bitcoin fund from VanEck and SolidX was extended to at least December. Experts are largely in agreement that the approval of a Bitcoin ETF is only a matter of time.
For investors, however, the question is which of the applications will receive the green light from the SEC. While the proposed GraniteShares, Direxion and ProShares products are all based on futures, the VanEck and SolidX proposal presents a physically supported model. The latter would mean that the demand for “real Bitcoins” could increase accordingly, which most investors support.