• 1 Sources informed the internal regulatory activities on the flurry of spot Bitcoin ETF filings. 
• 2 The SEC considered ETF seekers to refile their applications. 

Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings have seen a surge in the last couple of weeks planned to foray into the space. The abundance of filings with the SEC showed almost a frenzy. Though many prestigious and giant players in traditional finance (TradiFi) seek spot Bitcoin ETF approval, the financial regulator indicated the road ahead might not be that easy. 

Bitcoin ETF Applications Returned to File Again

The Wall Street Journal reported citing the people familiar with the matter that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found the spot Bitcoin ETF filings from asset managing institutions “inadequate.”

According to the source, WSJ reported, the US financial regulator informed Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets exchanges about the unclear and incomprehensive filing of ETF applications. These exchanges were filed for the financial products application on behalf of BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. 

The agency asked the exchanges or asset managers to update the applications in order to get the addressing feedback and refiling of the regulator. Cboe acted proactively and reported to refile the applications after the update on Friday. 

In addition to Fidelity Investments, Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) also filed for spot Bitcoin ETFs on behalf of WisdomTree, Invesco, VanEck, and Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management. The exchange refiled all the applications with the SEC. Alongside, the refiling specified for entering the surveillance-sharing agreements with the leading crypto exchange Coinbase. 

Though the recent wave of filing spot BTC and ETF kicked off after Nasdaq, on behalf of asset management giant BlackRock, it is yet to refile the application akin to Cboe. 

Refiling Would Delay First Spot Bitcoin ETF

The Wall Street Journal noted that the additional step of refiling the application with the SEC would push back the asset managers to a week behind. This would affect their competitiveness for the first spot Bitcoin ETF launch in the contingency. 

As per the procedure, the regulatory agency would take 15 days for filing out for a public commentary. During this timeline, the filing can be returned for refiling until the 7th day. With the closing of a 15 days window, the agency is left with up to 240 days to make a decision on filing, either to approve or reject it. 

The SEC has been rejecting the spot Bitcoin ETF applications consistently since 2017. Though there are future Bitcoin ETFs available in the market, a spot product is still awaited for approval.

With BlackRock filing for an exchange-traded fund, many industry experts and investors hope that it could be the first spot Bitcoin ETF to get approved. The reason behind the optimism is the asset management firm’s near-perfect record in approvals. Additionally, the surveillance of funds with the Nasdaq agreement in the application is likely to reconcile the concerns of the regulator. 

Nancy J. Allen

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.