The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed the decision on the launch of a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) from asset manager ARK Invest and the crypto ETP provider 21Shares.
The SEC has asked for new ‘comments, views and arguments’ on the filings. They may be submitted within 21 days.
On June 15, BlackRock sent to the SEC an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. Following the financial giant, similar requests were received from Valkyrie, Fidelity Investments, WisdomTree and Invesco.
Meanwhile, in the queue for consideration, ARK Invest with 21Shares are ahead of BlackRock, based on the timing of the filings that Cathie Wood’s firm sent in April.
Later the Commission returned all filings, because they did not contain sufficient information regarding the so-called joint surveillance agreement or details of this mechanism.
Subsequently, the aforementioned firms promptly sent the agency updated proposals. On July 14, the regulator took up for consideration applications from BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange also amended the document for the ARK 21Shares launch, including the joint surveillance agreement to prevent fraud and market manipulation, copying part of BlackRock’s application.
So far the SEC has not granted any approvals for the spot Bitcoin ETF launches. The Commission has, however, made an exception for similar futures-based products on the first cryptocurrency from ProShares and Valkyrie Investments.
However, experts Bernstein and former chairman of the SEC Jay Clayton assessed the prospects of the new wave of contenders as high.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicted a favorable ruling on several filings.