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As the week comes to a close, 11 applicants for spot Bitcoin ETFs have taken a significant step forward by submitting 19b-4 amendment forms. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faces a looming deadline to either approve or deny these applications.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has signaled a move towards approving the listing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by accepting filings from various exchanges. On January 5, 19b-4 amendments were submitted for spot BTC ETF applications from renowned asset managers such as BlackRock, Valkyrie, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and WisdomTree.
While these filings represent one of the final stages in the SEC approval process, the completion of S-1 documents is necessary for U.S. exchanges to list shares of investment securities with direct exposure to cryptocurrency.
Speculation among experts suggests that final approval for the spot Bitcoin ETFs may occur before January 10, aligning with the deadline for an offering from ARK Invest and 21Shares. A potential approval could pave the way for increased crypto adoption in the U.S. and globally.
Expressing optimism, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), hinted at a probable SEC approval by the beginning of the next week:
“Yeah, it’s basically done. Latest I’m hearing (from multiple sources) that final S-1s are due 8 am on Monday as SEC is trying to line everyone up for Jan 11th launch.”
Contrary to this positive outlook, U.S. financial advisers as a whole appear less confident in the SEC approving the offering.
In a survey conducted by ETF issuer Bitwise, participants, including registered investment advisers, financial planners, institutional investors, and wirehouse representatives, were asked about their expectations for the approval timeline of a spot Bitcoin ETF. Only 39% of respondents chose “2024” as their anticipated time frame.
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