Many bulls had given up on the possibility of a spot bitcoin ETF getting approved this year given the SEC’s numerous rejections based on concerns about the lack of investor protections and appropriate market surveillance.
As CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De pointed out last week, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said last year he felt more comfortable with 40 Act funds because of the investor protections enshrined within the law, as well as the market surveillance tools overseeing the futures market.
“The SEC is now not only comfortable with futures-based ETFs regulated under the 40 Act and all the investment protections there, but also futures-based ETFs regulated under the 34 and the 33 Act, the same act that these spot-based ETFs will be regulated under,” said Craig Salm, chief legal officer for Grayscale Investments, which is trying to get its Bitcoin Trust converted into a spot bitcoin ETF.
With over $25 billion in assets under management, GBTC is the most closely watched spot bitcoin ETF application.
This has widened as the odds of it converting to a spot ETF have declined, while other avenues to gain bitcoin exposure have increased, including equities and spot bitcoin ETFs in Canada.
“We’re sort of in a crawl, walk, run series,” Hougan said, adding that the Teucrium approval is no guarantee that the industry will see a spot bitcoin ETF approved soon.
Others in the investment community see the need for a political shakeup before spot bitcoin ETFs come into play.
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