Bitcoin ETFs Win SEC Approval, Bringing Easier Access to Biggest Cryptocurrency

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11 Jan 2024

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About a dozen companies, including BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale, sought to create bitcoin (BTC) ETFs. In recent days they've announced – and, in some cases, slashed – the fees they plan to charge investors, suggesting a fierce battle to win investors' money is ahead. These are spot ETFs, meaning they hold bitcoin itself, versus the already-approved bitcoin futures ETFs, which hold derivatives contracts tied to BTC.
The green light from the SEC follows many years of delays and outright rejections of numerous attempts to launch spot bitcoin ETFs. It also comes just a few months after the agency was handed a resounding loss in court. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in August ruled the SEC was "arbitrary and capricious" in its decision to reject Grayscale's attempt to convert its roughly $26 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot ETF.
In a statement, SEC Chair Gary Gensler pointed to a court loss in 2023 as part of its impetus to approve the dozen or so filings on Wednesday.

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that the Commission failed to adequately explain its reasoning in disapproving the listing and trading of Grayscale’s proposed ETP (the Grayscale Order). The court therefore vacated the Grayscale Order and remanded the matter to the Commission. Based on these circumstances and those discussed more fully in the approval order, I feel the most sustainable path forward is to approve the listing and trading of these spot bitcoin ETP shares," he said.
Read more: If a Bitcoin ETF Is Approved, Here’s What May Happen
Advocates for a spot bitcoin ETF have long argued that a regulated trading product focused on the world's oldest cryptocurrency would allow institutional and retail clients to gain exposure to bitcoin's price movements without requiring them to set up wallets or otherwise directly invest in the digital asset. ETF shares, for example, will be available to any U.S. investor with a brokerage account.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a longtime advocate for the digital asset industry, said the logic behind the regulator's previous rejections for spot bitcoin ETF filings was "perplexing."
"Although this is a time for reflection, it is also a time for celebration. I am not celebrating bitcoin or bitcoin-related products; what one regulator thinks about bitcoin is irrelevant. I am celebrating the right of American investors to express their thoughts on bitcoin by buying and selling spot bitcoin ETPs," she said.

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