Grayscale Asks the US SEC to Approve All Bitcoin ETFs Simultaneously
As the race for spot Bitcoin ETFs get heated in the market, the world’s largest digital asset manager Grayscale has submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking them to approve all the Bitcoin ETF applications at once.
On Thursday, July 27, Grayscale’s Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm submitted the letter talking about the eight spot Bitcoin ETFs arguing that the SEC shouldn’t pick “winners and losers” and instead make a fair and orderly decision in the matter.
BlackRock stirred a major excitement among crypto investors by filing the spot Bitcoin ETF last month. Following this, several other financial players also submitted similar applications to the SEC.
The official submission from the SEC reads: “The SEC’s actions related to Bitcoin ETFs should be made in a fair and orderly manner. As a disclosure-based regulator, the SEC should not pick winners and losers; instead, the SEC should continue to provide issuers with feedback or guidance consistently and equitably”.
Grayscale believes that the SEC should approve all spot Bitcoin ETF applications simultaneously, whether it's through a Court mandate or a change in the SEC's stance. This approach is seen as fair for both investors and issuers, and it would benefit Bitcoin, the market, and all stakeholders involved.
In the letter, Grayscale argued that the SEC could approve spot ETFs by considering its previous approvals for Bitcoin futures ETFs, stating that both types of funds are closely connected. Grayscale also mentioned that the recent surveillance sharing agreements (SSAs) between Coinbase and the spot ETF providers are not a novel concept and might not meet the SEC's criteria.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) manages more than $18 billion in assets and allows investors to invest in the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. The company has taken the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to court multiple times, seeking approval to convert its primary Bitcoin fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
A spot Bitcoin ETF would let institutional investors access Bitcoin's value without directly holding the cryptocurrency. Many people in the crypto community view it as a significant step toward wider Bitcoin adoption and recognition of crypto as a legitimate asset class.
For over ten years, the SEC has been hesitant to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, citing concerns about possible fraud and manipulation. Currently, ETFs linked to Bitcoin are futures-based, using contracts from commodity exchanges. In contrast, a spot-based ETF would provide direct exposure to Bitcoin.
Recently, the SEC rejected applications from BlackRock and Fidelity because the monitoring agreements they proposed for market surveillance were deemed inadequate. In response, these companies and others have refined their applications to meet the SEC's requirements.