Despite the latest action from the SEC, the price of Bitcoin remained largely unchanged.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision on the Ark 21Shares spot Bitcoin ( BTC ) ETF application.
Earlier today, the financial regulator asked the public to submit comments on Ark’s BTC application over the next three weeks, including written data, opinions, and arguments.
In the notice, the SEC asked for public comment on whether a Bitcoin spot ETF is susceptible to manipulation, whether the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) represents a sizable regulated market related to spot BTC trading, views on the Supervision Sharing Agreement (SSA) with Coinbase, and whether the Bitcoin market is resistant to manipulation.
“Expect delays”
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart described the SEC notice as a “standard delay letter” with no substance.
ETF Institute co-founder Nate Geraci observed that the SEC acknowledged the Coinbase SSA, albeit with some reservations. He speculated that the ultimate outcome of the application may depend on the court’s ruling on the Grayscale lawsuit and the regulator’s assessment of the adequacy of the Coinbase SSA.
Ark CEO Cathie Wood had anticipated the delay, telling Bloomberg that financial regulators would "approve multiple ETF applications at the same time."
The investment management company filed its ETF application in May, giving the SEC up to 240 days to make a decision. The financial regulator has a history of delaying spot ETF applications and has flatly rejected previous applications from multiple companies.
However, some market observers believe that the likelihood of regulators eventually approving spot ETFs has increased after receiving a large number of applications from several traditional financial institutions, including BlackRock, in June.
Meanwhile, news of the SEC’s latest action has left the flagship digital asset unchanged, trading at $29,344 after a slight drop of 0.03% over the past 24 hours, according to CryptoSlate.
