The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again delayed Van Eck/Solid X’s application (for a rule change) to sell shares for a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Cboe’s BZX exchange.
The request for a rule change to enable the Van Eck Bitcoin ETF, first filed over a year ago, has been delayed several times, first by the SEC so it could gather more public feedback, then by Van Eck itself, when the company withdrew the application during the partial shutdown of the US government in early 2019.
Van Eck re-applied in late February, and the SEC took another extension at the end of March.
That the Van Eck application is still in the running may be a good sign given that applications from ProShares, Direxion, GraniteShares, and Gemini have all been rejected by the SEC over the agency’s concerns about manipulation in underlying Bitcoin spot markets.
In the latest “Order Instituting Proceedings to Determine Whether to Approve or Disapprove a Proposed Rule Change to List and Trade Shares of the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust,” the SEC states that it has received 25 submissions from the public regarding Van Eck’s proposal.
The SEC is asking for more feedback from the public, and the latest Order differs from previous ones issued in that it contains a long list of very specific questions regarding the nature and soundness of underlying Bitcoin markets.
The Order also, “provid(es) notice of the grounds for disapproval under consideration”:
“The Commission is instituting proceedings to allow for additional analysis of the proposed rule change’s consistency with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be ‘designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade,’ and ‘to protect investors and the public interest.'”