US SEC to vote on Bitcoin spot ETF next week

The SEC is expected to vote on the trading rule filing next week, one of the people said.

Generally speaking, the S-1 filing is approved after the 19b-4. Once both filings are successfully approved, the first Bitcoin spot ETF can start trading as early as the next business day.

After the news was released, the price of Bitcoin rose by 0.7% in the short term, but then fell back. At press time, it was at $43,812 per coin.

It is reported that companies including BlackRock and Grayscale released a large number of updated 19b-4 documents on Friday night. Two people familiar with the matter said that SEC staff has not yet given more feedback.

Normally, the approval of an ETF can be delegated directly to the SEC without a vote, but the road to approval for a Bitcoin spot ETF has been particularly bumpy.

In the past, Bitcoin spot ETFs submitted to the U.S. capital market have been rejected by the SEC many times, mainly due to the sharp fluctuations in Bitcoin prices and insufficient market investor protection.

Last week, according to multiple media reports, discussions between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and asset management companies that want to list Bitcoin ETFs have advanced to the level of technical details. More than a dozen large asset management institutions including BlackRock, WisdomTree, Valkyrie, etc. are waiting for SEC approval, and spot Bitcoin ETF products may be listed in early January.

But then, Markus Thielen, an analyst at digital currency financial services platform Matrixport, pointed out in a report released on January 3 that the SEC is expected to reject all Bitcoin spot ETF proposals in January, and final approval may be achieved in the second quarter of 2024.

This news stimulated a sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin, which fell by more than 10% in 24 hours and fell below $41,000 per coin.