What BTC spot ETF applications are there now? What are the approval timelines and deadlines?

On August 29, good news came from the Bitcoin spot ETF application.

According to court documents, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that “to avoid arbitrariness and capriciousness, administrative decisions must be consistent and predictable, guided by the fundamental principle that similar situations should be treated similarly. NYSE Arca demonstrated that Grayscale is similar to the Bitcoin futures ETF with respect to relevant regulatory factors. The SEC failed to adequately explain why it approved the listing of two Bitcoin futures ETFs but not Grayscale’s proposed Bitcoin ETP. In the absence of a consistent explanation, different regulatory treatment of similar products is unlawful.”

Therefore, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Federal Circuit revoked the previous order of the US SEC and required the US SEC to accept Grayscale's review application to convert GBTC into an ETF. In 2021, Grayscale and NYSE Arca applied to convert GBTC into an ETF, and the US SEC rejected the application in June 2022.

Although the ruling of the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals does not mean that the U.S. SEC will definitely approve Grayscale or other issuers' applications for Bitcoin spot EFTs, it at least opens the way for future approval.

This article first explains the concepts of ETF, Bitcoin ETF, and Bitcoin spot ETF, and why Bitcoin spot ETF has a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry, and then understands the current Bitcoin spot ETF applications and their approval timeline and deadline.

What is a Bitcoin Spot ETF? Why does it matter?

ETF, short for Exchange Traded Fund, is a hybrid between individual stocks and mutual funds, providing a basket of assets, such as stocks, bonds or commodities, that can be traded on major stock exchanges. Investors can buy and sell them like regular stocks.

A Bitcoin ETF is a combination of an ETF and Bitcoin. It is essentially an ETF that tracks its underlying Bitcoin asset. Bitcoin ETFs allow traditional investors to invest in BTC in a familiar way.

Depending on the underlying assets, Bitcoin ETFs can be divided into Bitcoin futures ETFs and Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Bitcoin futures ETFs track Bitcoin futures contracts, while Bitcoin spot ETFs track Bitcoin spot, requiring physical Bitcoin to be backed by each ETF share. Moreover, compared with directly holding BTC, Bitcoin spot ETF investors do not need to carry out complex storage and security measures.

This means that a large number of investors can easily touch Bitcoin assets, even though they do not hold BTC personally, but rather the ETF issuers and custodians hold it on their behalf.

It can be said that Bitcoin spot ETF connects traditional finance and cryptocurrency to the greatest extent. Therefore, people in the crypto industry generally believe that the approval of Bitcoin ETF is a great boon to the industry.

Bitcoin Spot ETF Application List

According to the SEC website, here is a complete list of all Bitcoin spot ETF applications:

• ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) by 21Shares & ARK

• iShares Bitcoin Trust by BlackRock

• Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust by Bitwise

• VanEck Bitcoin Trust by VanEck

• Wisdomtree Bitcoin Trust (BTCW) by Wisdomtree

• Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF by Invesco & Galaxy

• Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust by Fidelity

• Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR) by Valkyrie

Bitcoin Spot ETF Timeline and Deadline

According to the Bitcoin spot ETF application process on the SEC website, the SEC begins reviewing Bitcoin spot ETFs after publishing the 19b-4 document (19b-4 Federal register) in the Federal Register.

The longest resolution time of the US SEC can be up to 240 days before the final decision of approval or rejection (Final Deadline) is made.

During this period, the U.S. SEC can either approve or reject the application for a Bitcoin spot ETF at any time, or have three deadlines to delay whether to accept or reject its application.

These three deadlines (First, Second, and Third Dealine) are three public responses from the U.S. SEC, with intervals of 45 days, 45 days, and 90 days respectively.