The US SEC has once again postponed its decision on the VanEck Bitcoin ETF. Is the approval of the Bitcoin ETF facing "difficulties"?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that it hopes to obtain more feedback on the proposed rule changes when considering whether to approve the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applied by asset management company VanEck. After the announcement is published in the Federal Register, commentators should submit their opinions within 21 days and rebuttals should be submitted within 35 days.

This is the second time the SEC has extended the review period for VanEck’s application. In late April, the SEC issued a notice delaying the resolution of the VanEck Bitcoin ETF until June 17.

In addition, the SEC has previously postponed the decision date on the WisdomTree Bitcoin ETF to July 14 and the decision date on the Kryptoin Bitcoin ETF to July 27.

In today’s announcement, the SEC also revealed that it may deny the application based on the national securities exchange’s rules “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” and “to protect investors and the public interest.”

As previously reported by BitPush, VanEck formally submitted the latest S-1 application for its proposed Bitcoin ETF in December 2020, and in March submitted a proposed rule amendment proposal to the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which will list the product, clearing the way for its listing.

As noted in Wednesday’s announcement, the SEC hopes to solicit additional feedback on the rule change. It noted:

“The Commission is initiating a proceeding under section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act to determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved. The initiation of this proceeding is appropriate at this time in light of the legal and policy issues raised by the proposed rule change. This does not constitute a conclusion by the Commission on any of the issues involved. Rather, the Commission seeks and encourages interested parties to comment on the proposed rule change.”

The announcement indicated that it might reject the application in order to stimulate further comment:

"The Commission is considering whether the proposed rule change should be approved pursuant to section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act. The Commission is initiating proceedings to conduct a supplemental analysis of whether the proposed rule change is consistent with section 6(b)(5) of the Act, which requires that the rules of a national securities exchange must be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest."

The move follows decision delays for other proposed bitcoin ETFs, which have been filed with the SEC by a number of other firms, including asset management giant Fidelity.

Gabor Gurbacs, head of digital asset strategy at VanEck, said, “We hope that the Commission will approve the Bitcoin ETF and recognize that VanEck is the earliest and most active issuer among all applicants, and hope that the Bitcoin ETF will no longer be controversial.”

After Canada officially launched North America’s first Bitcoin ETF earlier this year, when the United States would be able to launch a Bitcoin ETF has become the focus of market attention.