Mike Novogratz: SEC to approve Bitcoin ETF by end of 2023

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the spot price of the first cryptocurrency by the end of 2023, according to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz in an interview with CNBC.

“The approval will come. We think this will happen this year, 2023,” he said.

Novogratz cited the late-August court ruling granting Grayscale Investments’ petition against the SEC’s denial of the conversion of GBTC into a Bitcoin ETF. Media reports said the Commission would not appeal it.

“The SEC lost in court […]. The judge said: ‘What are you talking about, SEC? You have a futures ETF on Bitcoin, and you say there can’t be a spot one. That makes no sense.’ This puts the SEC at a disadvantage,” said the founder of Galaxy Digital.

In his words, the American public wants this, and the world’s largest asset manager—BlackRock—will do it.

Novogratz-owned Galaxy Digital filed a joint application with Invesco for a Bitcoin ETF back in July. In October, the companies also applied for approval of a spot Ethereum ETF.

Grayscale’s General Counsel Craig Salm on SiriusXM radio called Bitcoin ETF approval “a matter of time.” The Block reports.

On October 16, Cointelegraph published a fake news item that the SEC allegedly approved the corresponding instrument from BlackRock. In the wake of this, the price of the first cryptocurrency rose above $30,000, but later retraced to around $28,000.

CEO BlackRock Larry Fink said that the rapid rise in Bitcoin on unconfirmed news points to “unmet demand for digital assets”.

On August 31, the SEC delayed ruling on several Bitcoin ETFs at least until mid-October. By the end of September, the regulator moved the consideration of the filings to January 2024.

Earlier in August, Novogratz said that a Bitcoin ETF would be approved by February 2024. In the same month, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicted that the SEC would approve several applications for the instrument.

CryptoQuant analysts say that if a Bitcoin ETF is approved, the cryptocurrency market’s valuation will jump by $1 trillion. They also forecast Bitcoin price rising to $50,000–73,000.