KEY POINTS
- The SEC issued "additional comments" on the S-1 forms submitted by hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers
- 'This isn't out of the ordinary': ETF analyst James Seyffart on returned S-1 documents
- Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $46,453.88 Tuesday morning
It seems the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is not yet done with the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications as several reports claim the issuers received additional reports from the agency, fueling speculations that the approval announcement might be delayed.
Perianne Boring, the founder and CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce – the world's largest trade association representing the blockchain industry, sounded the alarm Monday after learning that the SEC has issued "additional comments" on the S-1 forms submitted by hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers. She said the agency's latest move is a "delay signal."
🚨SPOT BITCOIN ETF UPDATE: The SEC just issued additional comments on pending applicant's S-1s. This is a delay signal.🚫 #BitcoinETF #bitcoin
— Perianne (@PerianneDC) January 9, 2024
However, Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett dispelled doubts and said she received the same information from "a couple of people who received additional comments." She said they are not worried about it.
Terrett further disclosed the SEC did not inform them of any "change of plans," noting that the additional comments were most likely "just part of the process to get everything in before January 10th."
Just spoke with a couple of people who received additional comments. They say they’re not worried and the @SECGov hasn’t conveyed a change of plans.
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 9, 2024
My sense is that they’re fairly confident this is just part of the process to get everything in before January 10th. https://t.co/B9PvuHo6yX
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart confirmed the SEC has returned some S-1 documents with comments. He said it "isn't out of the ordinary" and clarified that he does not think "this is necessarily a delay signal."
"Really this just shows how quickly the SEC is turning these things around. Borderline unheard of to send over a document to the SEC in the morning and get comments back the same day (I think). If they wanted to delay -- the issuers wouldn't have gotten comments back tonight," Seyffart added.
1. This is true, comments came back on those S-1 documents with the fees that we all went crazy over this morning (this isn't out of ordinary)
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 9, 2024
2. Expect to see more amendments tomorrow because of this
3. That said -- I don't think this is necessarily a delay signal https://t.co/o2m0lIBSct
On Monday, the SEC started publishing notices of filing updates related to spot Bitcoin ETFs, including amendments to eight 19b-4 filings detailing proposed rule changes.
Six of the eight updated filings involved proposed rule changes through which the Cboe BZX exchange intends to list and trade Bitcoin ETFs from Invesco Galaxy, Franklin Templeton, Ark/21Shares, WisdomTree and Fidelity.
Another rule change concerns Nasdaq, which intends to list and trade the Bitcoin ETF of Valkyrie. One other rule change concerns the NYSE Arca wanting to list and trade the Bitcoin ETF of Hashdex.
Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $46,453.88, with its 24-hour trading volume up by 65.20% at $40.76 billion as of 6:52 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Bitcoin's latest price action represents a 5.37% spike in its value for the day and a 1.87% gain over the past seven days.
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin's current circulating supply stands at 19.59 million BTC and its market cap is at $911.39 billion.
