Following a series of meetings with officials and filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it appears that the long-anticipated launch of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the country is finally happening. Interestingly, executives from competing firms aiming to be among the issuers have hinted at a potential approval decision announcement on Wednesday, with trading potentially beginning as early as Thursday.
The most recent developments regarding the spot Bitcoin ETF applications were directly conveyed through a recent interview.
VanEck's CEO, Jan van Eck, indicated an expectation for the crypto investment vehicle to commence trading on Thursday, explaining why the fees had not been filtered out.
"All the fees came out this morning because they're all getting ready to basically list on Thursday...that's not been filtered out through all the news,'' VanEck's CEO said on CNBC's ETF Edge.
VANECK CEO CONFIRMS THAT THE BITCOIN SPOT ETFS WILL BEGIN TRADING ON THURSDAY
— GANDALF (@BTCGandalf) January 9, 2024
"All the fees came out this morning because they're all getting ready to basically list on Thursday...that's not been filtered out through all the news."
🚀🌕 pic.twitter.com/ecPLB5MfIq
Similarly, Steven McClurg, the Chief Investment Officer for Valkyrie and one of the hopeful issuers in the spot Bitcoin ETF competition, expressed anticipation, suggesting that after the market closes on Wednesday, the ETFs could become effective for trading on Thursday.
"We're just in a slight holding pattern. I'm in the camp where I believe that sometime after the market closes on Wednesday, the ETFs will go effective, meaning they trade on Thursday. That doesn't mean that that's going to happen, but that's what I believe is going to happen," the executive said.
Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of ARK Invest, whose Bitcoin ETF application is awaiting a decision from the regulator on Wednesday, noted the uniqueness of the current application procedure. She mentioned that, unlike previous filings, this time, the agency asked questions to applicants instead of outrightly rejecting their proposals. Wood also expressed confidence, saying, "We are feeling good about it."
"This told us they were getting ready. Now, can we be 100% sure there will be approval this week? No, you never say 100%, but we're feeling really good about it," Wood said.
Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $46,878.10 with a 24-hour trading volume down by 24.48% at $30.96 billion as of 3:49 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Bitcoin's latest price action represents a 0.02% increase in its value on the day and a 3.80% gain over the last seven days.
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin's current circulating supply stands at 19.59 million BTC and its market cap at $918.63 billion.
