SEC Chair Gensler Keeps Quiet on Bitcoin ETF Plans After Grayscale Ruling Despite tremendous pressure
to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF for trading on public markets, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler refuses to discuss his agency’s next steps. On Monday,
the SEC received an order from the Court of Appeals to review Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application. The company owns the
world’s largest Bitcoin fund, which it plans to convert into a spot ETF as early as it can.
“Those are things that are in front of staff,” Gensler said at a Securities Enforcement Forum event in Washington, according to CoinDesk. While waiting for SEC staff to make recommendations to him and the commission,
he said he would “let that play out” and not prejudge the situation.
Gensler didn’t give a clear answer when asked about the order in which the SEC might handle similar applications.
Right now,
the agency has roughly a dozen near-identical spot Bitcoin ETF applications in review, all from big-name fund managers such
as BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and others. Grayscale officially re-entered
that mix with Monday’s court order, which followed its legal victory over the SEC in August, and the agency’s refusal to appeal the case.
The victory
has bolstered market confidence that a spot ETF approval may indeed happen. Grayscale’s GBTC share discount has narrowed
to 14%, while Bitcoin’s price reached a yearly high of $35,000 this week.
