Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein warns the digital currency asset manager could resort to legal action against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a bid to get a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved.
Asked in a Bloomberg interview whether he would consider an Administrative Procedure Act lawsuit against the SEC, Sonnenshein says that “all options are on the table” after the SEC decides on Grayscale’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Grayscale applied for a spot Bitcoin ETF on October 19th of 2021. The SEC’s decision is expected in July after an eight months-long review process that involves soliciting and taking into consideration public comments.
“I think all options are on the table. I think certainly it’s important that between now and the end of that 240-day process, which ends in early July, that the SEC hears from as many investors as possible as well as academics, policymakers.
Everybody has an opportunity to weigh in on this issue and all of that is in fact considered as the SEC weighs the issue in front of them.”
According to Sonnenshein, the SEC is denying investors choice by only approving Bitcoin futures ETFs – Bitcoin ETF products that are based on derivatives of the flagship cryptocurrency, rather than the physically-backed Bitcoin ETF or the spot Bitcoin ETF.
“It was really a very exciting announcement that we now have Bitcoin futures ETFs out in the market. But unfortunately, that’s forced investors into those Bitcoin futures products because those are the only ones that exist.”
Despite the SEC having approved several Bitcoin futures ETFs but not a single spot Bitcoin ETF, the Grayscale Investments CEO says he is hopeful that the markets regulator will allow a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF someday.
“Ultimately we believe it’s a matter of when, not a matter of if, a spot Bitcoin ETF is approved.”
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