SEC denies VanEck Bitcoin spot ETF for a third time; commissioners dissent

2 years ago

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has erstwhile again rejected VanEck’s connection for a Bitcoin spot ETF, according to a March 10 filing.

SEC rejects VanEck Bitcoin ETF

The applicable filing indicates that the SEC has rejected a regularisation alteration done which Cboe BZX Exchange intended to database VanEck’s exchange-traded money (ETF).

The SEC rejected the connection little than 1 twelvemonth aft it was archetypal enactment guardant connected June 24, 2022. The regulator antecedently denied akin proposals for a VanEck Bitcoin spot ETF successful 2021 and 2017. It besides delayed a determination connected the merchandise aggregate times.

The halfway issue, according to the SEC, is that ETF providers person not shown that they tin forestall marketplace manipulation. Specifically, those providers person not shown that they person a surveillance-sharing statement with a significantly-sized market.

The SEC has besides rejected competing proposals from different firms specified arsenic Wisdomtree, ARK Invest, and Valkyrie Investments connected virtually identical grounds.

Commissioners dissent

Though the SEC’s reasoning has been applied repeatedly, 2 SEC commissioners ⁠— Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda ⁠— criticized the regulator’s decision today.

They noted that it has been six years since the SEC rejected the archetypal exertion for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded money oregon exchange-traded merchandise (ETP).

Though the SEC claims it applies the aforesaid rules to different ETP proposals, Peirce and Uyeda accidental that its rules for Bitcoin spot ETPs are successful information “uniquely burdensome.”

Specifically, they reason that the SEC’s rules for determining a “significant” marketplace usually use to a peculiar trading venue, not an wide market. They besides accidental that the SEC applies a two-part test: first, whether idiosyncratic attempting to manipulate the marketplace would besides request to commercialized connected the applicable marketplace truthful that surveillance measures are effective, and second, whether ETP trading would beryllium a predominant power connected prices successful the applicable market. These criteria are lone applied to crypto products, they say.

Peirce has previously expressed disapproval towards her agency’s stance, and arsenic such, her latest dissent whitethorn not interaction aboriginal decisions astir ETF approvals.

Elsewhere, Grayscale’s determination to challenge the SEC successful court implicit its projected ETF conversion could assistance that institution triumph approval, depending connected the outcome.

The station SEC denies VanEck Bitcoin spot ETF for a 3rd time; commissioners dissent appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.

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