Author: Joyce and Jaleel

Table of Contents·Bitcoin ETF application delayed again·Ripple, Grayscale's victory brought hope·Wall Street giants actively apply for Bitcoin ETF since June

7 Companies' Bitcoin ETF Applications Delayed Again

September 30th, the SEC postponed its decision on VanEck's Bitcoin ETF application. On the same day, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart posted on social media that the SEC had also postponed its decision on two Bitcoin ETFs from Fidelity and WisdomTree.

Recently, the SEC has postponed the decision on Bitcoin spot ETF applications from 7 companies.

BlockBeats previously reported that on September 1st, SE announced that it would postpone the approval decision for seven spot Bitcoin ETF proposals. The regulatory agency stated in a separate filing that the decision deadlines for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust, and Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF will be extended to October 17th, while the deadline for Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund will be postponed to October 19th. In addition, the decision deadline for Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust Fund has also been postponed to October 16th.

September 29th, the SEC once again stated that it is launching additional procedures to determine whether the Bitcoin spot ETF applications proposed by BlackRock, Invesco, Valkyrie, and Bitwise should be approved. In the documents submitted to Valkyrie, the SEC requested that commentators provide relevant opinions, while also hoping to understand whether the proposed monitoring sharing agreement with the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase would help "discover, investigate, and prevent fraud and manipulation." This means that the approval process will take at least a few more months.

Gray scale and Ripple's victory once brought hope

On July 13, 2023, Ripple Labs won the three-year lawsuit against the SEC. Judge Analisa Torres made a ruling in favor of Ripple Labs, stating that XRP is not a security, at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related reading: "Tracing the three-year-long Ripple case, does the court ruling have epoch-making significance?"After all, XRP is one of the more centralized foundations, with key leaders, standard sales through trading platforms, and a formal distribution plan. If XRP, which achieves these things, is not a security, then almost everything sold through trading platforms is not a security.If XRP is not a security, then obviously BTC and ETH are not securities either. This seems to also mean that the Bitcoin ETF applications submitted by Wall Street giants such as BlackRock may have a chance of success.

BlockBeats previously reported on August 29th that Grayscale won the lawsuit against the SEC. A three-judge panel in Washington overturned the US Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to block Grayscale's ETF. The court stated that "rejecting Grayscale's proposal was arbitrary and capricious because the SEC failed to explain its differing treatment of similar products."

The community generally believes that the news of Grayscale's victory will increase the likelihood of SEC approving a Bitcoin ETF for spot trading.

The reasons why regulatory agencies such as the SEC have always been cautious include issues such as market manipulation, liquidity, and the inherent volatility of assets in the crypto industry.Obviously, once a Bitcoin spot ETF is officially listed in the United States, it will become a milestone event in the global blockchain field, because this means that US regulatory agencies have legally recognized Bitcoin as a financial product, and Bitcoin will gain unprecedented influence.Related reading: "Grayscale wins SEC lawsuit, does DCG empire behind GBTC have new hope?"

Wall Street giants have been actively applying for Bitcoin ETFs since June

BlockBeats previously reported that on June 16th, iShares, a subsidiary of asset management giant BlackRock, submitted a filing to the US SEC for a Bitcoin ETF called "iShares Bitcoin Trust", with its assets primarily composed of Bitcoin held by the trustee of the trust.

June 21st, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, wrote that WisdomTree, an asset management company, has once again submitted an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. In addition, Invesco has resubmitted the 19b-4 document for a spot Bitcoin ETF. On the same day, cryptocurrency fund company Valkyrie also submitted an S-1 registration form for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the SEC.

On June 30th, according to relevant documents cited by CNBC, financial services giant Fidelity has once again submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF. Fidelity stated in the application that its Wise Bitcoin Trust (a spot Bitcoin ETF) will help US investors mitigate risks.

SEC responded at the time, stating that these spot Bitcoin ETF application documents did not clearly state the name of the spot Bitcoin trading platform with which they had signed a "data sharing agreement," nor did they provide sufficient information about the details of these monitoring arrangements.

July 4th, BlackRock resubmitted its Bitcoin spot ETF application to the SEC through Nasdaq, indicating that Coinbase Global Inc. will provide market supervision. July 5th, Valkyrie also submitted a new 19b-4 document, which includes designating Coinbase as a partner for the supervision sharing agreement.

On August 4th, James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, stated on social media that Bitwise has actually applied for two ETFs. In addition to the previously announced "Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF", there is also a "Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF".

Although the application for a Bitcoin ETF in the spot market has been repeatedly delayed, the enthusiasm for it has remained high. On August 30th, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, stated in a post that "Analyst James Seyffart and I have raised the probability of a Bitcoin spot trading platform ETF launching this year to 75% (increasing to 95% by the end of 2024)." August 30th.

After the SEC announced the delay of the Bitcoin ETF application from companies such as BlackRock, on October 5th, former BlackRock Managing Director and current CEO of MarketVector Indexes, Steven Schoenfield, stated at the CCData Digital Asset Summit in London: "I think the SEC may approve all ETF applications at the same time, they don't want to give anyone a first-mover advantage. They haven't completely rejected any of the applications on the list, but are seeking opinions, which is a small but significant step forward."