Surprise! The SEC delays again.
The folks at Bitwise and VanEck/SolidX will have to wait a little longer before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reaches a decision on each company's respective proposals to list bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETF) on US stock exchanges.
True to form, on March 29, the SEC decided[1] to postpone the VanEck/SolidX decision to either "approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change" until May 21 of this year. Likewise, the SEC has delayed[2] its Bitwise decision until May 16.
The VanEck/SolidX ETF proposal was first submitted[3] to the SEC in June 2018 in collaboration with the Cboe BZX Exchange. On August 7, 2018, the SEC decided to postpone[4] its decision regarding a rule change that would allow for the listing of a bitcoin ETF. However, on January 23 of this year, that proposal was voluntarily withdrawn[5] by the Cboe BZX Exchange, possibly because of the government shutdown taking place at that time. Undeterred, Cboe submitted a new proposal[6] on January 31 seeking the same rule change.
The Bitwise ETF proposal was submitted[7] to the SEC on January 10. It asks for the same rule change as the VanEck/SolidX proposal so that it can list a bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca. However, there are some differences[8] that Bitwise seemed to believe gave it a leg up on other proposals.
Nonetheless, on March 29, the SEC also decided to put off its decision on the fate of the Bitwise ETF. It looks like VanEck/SolidX and Bitwise may be in the same boat after all.
Nathan Graham is a full-time staff writer
