The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday received new feedback from the public on whether it should approve or disapprove a spot Bitcoin ETF requested by asset manager Franklin Templeton, just weeks after first delaying a decision on the proposed fund. He stated that he wanted to. The move has some analysts noting that regulators appear to be moving quickly.
The SEC said it wants more analysis and is “initiating proceedings” to do so. Regulators asked commenters Tuesday about the fund’s relationship with Coinbase, which would serve as custodian if the ETF wins approval, as well as concerns about manipulation and fraud.
“The Commission is providing notice of the grounds for disapproval it is considering” and said it wants to analyze whether the application is consistent with the requirement that “the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative practices.” ‘practices’ and ‘to protect investors and the public interest'” The agency said in a statement: filing.
“Initiation of proceedings does not indicate that the Commission has reached a conclusion with respect to the issues involved. Rather, as described below, the Commission seeks and encourages interested persons to provide comments on the proposed rule changes,” it continued.
Asset managers first contaminated for franklin Bitcoin BTC
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The ETF will be launched in September, and if approved, shares will be listed and traded on the Cboe BZX Exchange. Multiple applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF have been filed from other asset managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity.
Hashdex application
The regulator also said it would begin the process and solicit public feedback on applications for the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF, which proposes to convert the exchange-traded fund listed on the New York Stock Exchange into a partial spot product.
The deadline for submitting opinions on the two funds is the 21st, and a rebuttal period continues for two weeks. The SEC has yet to approve a spot Bitcoin fund and has so far postponed all applications for the product.
a whirlwind of speculation
Some analysts have pointed out to X that the SEC appears to be moving quickly with its latest action on the Franklin Bitcoin ETF.
“Wow. The SEC took action on Franklin very early. They weren’t scheduled to make another decision until January 1st.” james seiffard, An ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence wrote about X: “Today’s lightning-fast progress on Franklin (and potentially @hashdex as well?) will set us up for a full wave of approvals in early January. Is there a reason?”
Scott Johnsson of Van Buren Capital said the move could be an effort to align all spot Bitcoin ETFs to the same timeline.
“We may have chosen to do this early so we could close the comment period before January 10th to approve everyone at the same time,” Johnsson posted to X.
Fresh Franklin Templeton Filing
Franklin Templeton followed the SEC’s action by filing an amended Form S-1 on Tuesday.
“Notably, the language of this S-1 mimics that of many others in the creation/redemption process. It leaves open the possibility for both in-kind and/or cash.” Seyffart wrote.
(Updates on submissions Hashdex Fund, new submission from Franklin Templeton.)
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