The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is approaching a critical period for the approval of the first Bitcoin spot ETF application, which is from January 8th to January 10th. According to Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, the final stage of the spot ETF application is currently underway, and asset management companies that have submitted applications are expected to submit their final revised documents on the 8th.
It is understood that the issuers must submit the S-1 revised documents, which disclose the fees and ticker code of the ETF, before 8 am Eastern Time on the 8th (8 pm Taiwan time). For example, BlackRock has not disclosed the fees related to its Bitcoin spot ETF in its previous documents.
Eric Balchunas explained that the submission of the proposed rule change by the stock exchange (19b-4) and the ETF prospectus document (S-1) are the final steps before the SEC makes a decision. The SEC is expected to approve both the 19b-4 and S-1 documents simultaneously, but usually approves the 19b-4 document first.
Previously, 11 Bitcoin spot ETF issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Invest, Valkyrie, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, Invesco, WisdomTree, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck, submitted their 19b-4 revised documents on the 5th.
There is no public agenda for the SEC before January 11th, but it can still authorize approval. The next stage of the decision-making process will be a vote by the SEC commissioners. Although there are no arrangements on the SEC’s public agenda before January 11th, Eric Balchunas pointed out that the SEC can use its authorization policy to make a decision without necessarily voting. In general, the approval of an ETF can be delegated to SEC staff without the need for a commissioner vote.
Eric Balchunas predicts that most applications that meet the SEC’s requirements, or at least those submitted before December 29th, will be approved this week. After the SEC approves the first ETF application, it may make a decision on Grayscale’s GBTC conversion to Bitcoin spot ETF application.
Earlier, Fox Business reported that BlackRock expects the SEC to approve its Bitcoin spot ETF application on the 10th. Matthew, the digital research director at VanEck, stated that there are rumors that BlackRock has already allocated over $2 billion in funds for the new ETF in the first week, breaking the record for the trading volume and asset management scale of all ETFs on the first day and week.
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