SEC Set to Approve Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the First Week of January

• SEC reportedly delayed the decision of Franklin Templeton and Hashdex’s spot Bitcoin ETF applications.

• Experts believe that this decision is meant to line up all 12 applications for approval. 

Crypto enthusiasts have kept their fingers crossed, awaiting news of the first spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission after the appeal court questioned its rejection of Grayscale Investments’ application. Since then, the Commission has delayed some of its decisions contrary to the expectations of industry analysts.

On November 28, the SEC delayed its decision on Franklin Templeton and Hashdex’s spot Bitcoin ETF applications. The two of the 12 spot Bitcoin ETF applicants were keenly awaiting their deadline decisions by January 1. Ark Invest is expecting its final deadline by January 10. According to the report, the rest of the applicants are awaiting their final third deadlines. 

Recently, it was reported that the Commission had taken the decision to request public input on the proposals, with the written comments expected on the applicants’ Forms 19b-4. This is reported to be different from the Form S-1 that provides the prospectus. It is important to note that the document under discussion is a regulatory one used to list and trade securities. The comments and response to comments would last for 35 days starting from the publication of the Federal Register. 

Experts React to This Move

Industry key players have reacted to the delay. According to James Seyffart, a Bloomberg ETF analyst who previously predicted that a spot Bitcoin ETF approval is 75 percent possible this year, this is a good sign. 

Update: Wow. SEC went super early on Franklin. They weren’t due for another decision until Jan 1. Notably, Franklin is the only issuer who didn’t submit an updated S-1 yet. Wonder if that has any impact here. 

Speaking on this, the Bloomberg analyst stated that this development is only an approval for 19b-4 approvals. To him, the Commission is not ready to approve S-1s.

He stated: 

So approval could happen here without immediate launch. They could still be denied.

Scott Johnson Expects Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval Soon

The early decision of the SEC was also reacted to by Scott Johnsson, a finance lawyer at Davis Polk. According to him, the early decision is to finish the comment period by January 10. After that, a simultaneous approval would follow. 

Really the only way it makes sense. Pretty sure we can lock this one up. […] The issue was Global X had a comment period ending December 29. So, if the SEC wanted to approve all at the same time, they had to do this. […] This sets up an approval open period sometime after Jan 2 and before Jan 10. Or more accurately no later than Jan 10.

Johnson hinted that Global X is currently in a comment period until EOD Dec 29.

That’s the Friday of a holiday weekend and the SEC will want to cushion at least a few days to review comments received. So unless they were going to approve over a holiday weekend with little opportunity to review Global X comments, this was the sensible choice. 

Franklin Templeton is reported to have submitted an updated prospectus of its ETF application. According to Seyffart, the SEC is lining up all 12 spot Bitcoin ETF applicants for the same launch date. 

This possible approval could have a massive effect on the Bitcoin price. Currently, the asset has an interesting price action with a $37,941.57 trading price. Bitcoin has a bullish market sentiment with a score of 61/100. In the last 24 hours, the asset has surged by 1.66 percent. 

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