According to a fresh report by Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just rejected a proposal by hedge fund Skybridge Capital and investment advisory firm First Trust, to list a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
However, the Thursday rejection does not exactly come as a surprise.
At the very least, up until now, the commission has ensured to show a preference for ETFs that rather track the bitcoin futures market, over spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The SEC Still Unsure About Spot Bitcoin ETF
Meanwhile, SEC’s rejection comes barely a month after the agency also rejected investment firm Kryptoin’s proposal to list a spot bitcoin ETF.
This was after the commission had previously turned down spot bitcoin ETF proposals from WisdomTree and VanEck as well.
Now for some reason, the delayed decision by SEC towards the proposal by First Trust and SkyBridge to list a spot Bitcoin ETF may have been giving some concerned parties hope.
Recall that the duo initially applied to list an ETF on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021. But the SEC could not come up with a decision by July, which necessitated an extension to November. By November, there was still no decision to be made, thereby extending the decision-making a little further — till today.
In all honesty, the eventual rejection was very much expected, based on the precedent already set by the SEC to prefer ETFs that track the bitcoin futures market, instead of the asset itself.
For instance, the SEC had no problems approving Bitcoin futures ETFs, and the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) have both begun trading since October.
While a decision on Fidelity Investment’s proposal for a spot bitcoin ETF is also due today, one can almost be sure of what to expect.
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