The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision on the Ark 21Shares spot Bitcoin’s (BTC) ETF application.
Earlier today, the financial regulator asked for public comments, including written data, views, and arguments, on the Ark’s BTC application within the next three weeks.
In the notice, the SEC asked the public to comment on whether Bitcoin Spot ETFs are vulnerable to manipulation, whether the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME ) represents a regulated market of significant size related to spot BTC trades, views on the surveillance sharing agreement (SSA) with Coinbase, and whether the Bitcoin market resists manipulation.
‘Delay was expected’
Speaking on the SEC notice, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart described it as a “standard delay letter” with nothing much to it.
Nate Geraci, co-founder of the ETF Institute, observed that the SEC acknowledged the Coinbase SSA, albeit with some reservations. He speculated that the conclusive outcome of the applications might hinge on both the court’s ruling in the Grayscale lawsuit and the regulator’s assessment of Coinbase SSA’s adequacy.
Ark CEO Cathie Wood had anticipated the delay. In an interview with Bloomberg, she said the financial watchdog would “approve more than one [ETF application] at once.”
The investment management firm submitted its ETF listing application in May, providing the SEC a window of up to 240 days to decide. The financial watchdog has a history of delaying spot ETF applications and has outrightly rejected previous applications from various firms.
However, several market observers have opined that there was an increased chance that the regulator might finally approve a spot ETF after it received an avalanche of applications from several traditional financial institutions, including BlackRock, in June.
Meanwhile, news of the SEC’s latest action has left the flagship digital asset unchanged as it was trading at $29,344 after a mild decline of 0.03% in the last 24 hours, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
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