Greyscale and VanEck Bitcoin ETF shares registered with the latest exchanges
Pending a decision from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, asset managers Grayscale Investments and VanEck have filed a notice with the financial regulator that they intend to list shares of a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund on stock exchanges.
In a separate filing with the SEC on Jan. 4, VanEck Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust used Form 8-A to list their shares on the Cboe BZX exchange and the New York Stock Exchange's Arca. The filings, part of the ETF's filing with the SEC, followed a similar filing on January 3 from the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
Multiple-location BTC investment vehicle applications are in the SEC pipeline, with many in the space expecting the commission to make a decision on whether to approve them next week. Some have speculated that the SEC may approve more details for the BTC ETF offering from ARK Invest and 21Shares before the January 10 deadline.
Form 8-A filings, while moving forward with listing ETFs, do not necessarily indicate that the SEC will approve the listing. Bloomberg EFF analyst James Seifert says people at X (formerly Twitter) should keep an eye on approvals for Form 19B-4 and completed S-1 filings.
Grayscale's chief legal officer, Craig Salm, and CEO, Michael Sonnenschein, both issued ambiguous messages on X, the SEC's upcoming decision:
Just fill some forms
— Craig Salm (@CraigSalm) January 4, 2024
Big work week.
— Sonnenshein (@Sonnenshein) January 2, 2024
Related: Bitcoin ETFs Are Coming, But What About BTC Shares and Trusts?
The SEC has never approved a BTC exchange for listing and trading on US-based exchanges. Several asset managers, including BlackRock — the largest firm with nearly $9 trillion in assets under management — Bitwise, Fidelity, Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Invesco Galaxy, have spot Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) ETFs with the SEC.
Crypto traders in the United States have been able to gain exposure to investment vehicles tied to BTC futures since 2021 after the SEC approved an offering from ProShares. In contrast, Canadian regulators have approved a Bitcoin ETF position from Objective Investments in 2021.
Magazine: Crypto Regulation: Does SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Have Final Comments?
