The Securities and Exchange Commission delayed its decision on several bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications, according to a string of filings late Thursday. BlackRock, Fidelity and Invesco must now wait until October for a ruling on their bitcoin ETF applications. Elsewhere, a judge could postpone the criminal fraud trial for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Bitcoin erased gains from its Tuesday rally.
The SEC said it needs a longer period to evaluate spot bitcoin ETF applications for Bitwise, VanEck, Fidelity's Wise Origin, Valkyrie Digital Assets, Invesco, WisdomTree and BlackRock. It set new deadlines between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19 to come up with a ruling on the applications. The regulator originally had a Sept. 2 deadline to approve or reject the cryptocurrency products.
The decision comes after the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals sided with Grayscale Investments against the SEC in Grayscale's bitcoin ETF application. On Tuesday, the court ruled the SEC must review a previous decision in which it rejected Grayscale's bitcoin ETF application.
Analysts widely viewed the decision as another step closer for the U.S. getting its first spot price bitcoin ETF, which would allow investors to gain exposure to bitcoin on traditional markets without having to directly own the cryptocurrency.
SBF Needs More Time For Trial
Meanwhile, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan said on Wednesday he would consider postponing Sam Bankman-Fried's Oct. 3 criminal fraud trial, Reuters reported. The former FTX CEO's lawyers argue he did not have time to review millions of pages of evidence to help build his defense.
Bankman-Fried previously pled not guilty to multiple fraud and conspiracy charges leading to the collapse of his bankrupt crypto exchange. He posted a $250 million bond in December. But Kaplan ordered SBF to jail in mid-August for witness tampering allegations.
Kaplan proposed combining the October trial with another trial scheduled for March 11, 2024. The second trial involves charges of bank fraud and bribing officials from China. A decision on the postponement should be made in the coming days.
Elsewhere, the Department of Justice moved to disqualify all seven of SBF's proposed witnesses from testifying according to a late Monday filing. Prosecutors argue the witnesses' disclosure filings are insufficient, their planned testimony may be irrelevant and experience may be misleading.
Bitcoin Price Action
Bitcoin fell near $25,600 late Friday, erasing the Tuesday rally that followed the Grayscale decision and took it to $28,000. The world's largest crypto is hovering near its lowest levels since June.
Crypto exchange Coinbase saw COIN stock pare its gains to 5% on the week after jumping 15% Tuesday. Bitcoin miners Hut 8, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital all retreated the past three days. Still, shares of the stocks are up between 4.4% and 13.7% for the week.
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