SEC Provides Comments on Latest Bitcoin ETF Filings: Report

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent comments to prospective Bitcoin ETF issuers following a round of amended S-1 forms filed by hopefuls Monday.

While the founder of blockchain trade association the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Perianne Boring, posted on Twitter that the move constituted a “delay signal,” others disagreed. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart argued that wasn’t necessarily the case. “Really this just shows how quickly the SEC is turning these things around,” he tweeted, adding that it was “borderline unheard of” to send a document to the SEC in the morning and receive comments the same day. “If they wanted to delay — the issuers wouldn’t have gotten comments back tonight,” he said.

An individual familiar with the comments backed up Seyffart’s argument, telling CoinDesk that the issuers were expected to file updated documents Tuesday, with comments addressing “minor details” in the S-1 forms. Meanwhile, Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that a number of those who had received additional comments were “not worried,” and that the SEC “hasn’t conveyed a change of plans.”

Citing three sources close to the matter, Axios reported that spot Bitcoin ETFs could be approved by Wednesday, with more than one fund preparing to launch trading as soon as Thursday morning.

Updated S-1 filings

Monday’s updated S-1 filings saw prospective Bitcoin ETF issuers engaging in a “fee war,” as hopefuls jockeyed to reveal fee structures that offer more tempting returns to investors.

The last week has seen a rush of activity from firms hoping to launch the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., with prospective issuers VanEck and Bitwise revealing in their amended S-1 filings that the firms are seeding their prospective ETFs with millions of dollars.

Bitcoin surged Monday as optimism mounted that the long-awaited investment vehicle could finally arrive, with Bloomberg Intelligence analysts upping their estimate of the odds of an ETF being approved in January to 95%.

But not everyone is so optimistic. With SEC chair Gary Gensler posting a series of tweets warning of the dangers of crypto investing Monday, the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Perianne Boring remains “worried” that the SEC may yet block a spot Bitcoin ETF from coming to market. “Chair Gensler doesn’t want to go down without a fight,” she tweeted. “I’m hoping for a successful launch this week.”