The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) delay in deciding whether to approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States is fueling expectations that a final verdict will come in a batch that includes key players on Wall Street, including BlackRock and Fidelity.
“There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on the SEC to approve a number of these ETFs, particularly because the approved Futures backed products are lagging spot performance substantially, harming investors,” markets veteran and co-founder of CoinRoutes Dave Weisberger told Cointelegraph, adding that all pending applications will likely be included in a final decision.
The SEC is analyzing a total of eight applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF, following past delays and denials of the crypto product in recent years. Companies up for a decision are ARK Invest and 21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco and Galaxy Digital, Fidelity, and Valkyrie. Together, the firms manage over $15 trillion in global assets.
On Aug. 11, the U.S. markets regulator opened a 21-day comment period for the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF. As per the filing, the SEC is seeking answers on whether ARK 21Shares’ proposal is designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, as well as whether the Bitcoin (BTC) market is susceptible to manipulation.
Furthermore, the regulator raised concerns about Coinbase’s surveillance-sharing agreement, asking commenters to examine whether Coinbase’s participation in the ETF’s surveillance would, in fact, help to detect, investigate and deter fraud and manipulation in Bitcoin’s price.
“The SEC’s main concern about spot crypto ETFs is about the potential market manipulation by a big whale. Theoretically, it can happen if the SEC approves the ETFs of one or two investment funds. But if it decides to register all 8 ETFs, it will sharply mitigate the probability of manipulation, because these firms will be able to trade with each other frequently, taking opposite sides,” explained Ruslan Lienkha, chief of marke
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Author: Ana Paula Pereira