Bloomberg Analyst Says SEC Lining Up To Potentially Approve All Spot Bitcoin ETF Applications in January

A Bloomberg analyst says that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is gearing up to approve all bids for a spot market Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

In a lengthy thread on the social media platform X, James Seyffart says that the SEC making earlier-than-expected rulings on Franklin’s bids for a BTC ETF means the regulatory agency could be setting the stage to approve the others in January.

“Wow. SEC went super early on Franklin. They weren’t due for another decision until Jan 1. Notably, Franklin is the only issuer who didn’t submit an updated [Form] S-1 (registration of asset-backed security) yet. Wonder if that has any impact here…

Going super early on Franklin today (and potentially Hashdex coming too?) would set things up for a full wave of approvals in early January.”

However, the SEC didn’t end up ruling early on Hashdex’s bid. Instead, the regulatory body pushed it back to a specific date, prompting Seyffart to believe that the SEC is aiming to approve all BTC ETF applications at the same time.

“This delay on Hashdex all but confirms for me that this was likely a move to line every applicant up for potential approval by the Jan 10, 2024 deadline.”

However, Seyffart says the process may not go smoothly as there could be some hang-ups with the filing process or the SEC may end up denying the bids.

“Gonna sprinkle some caveats here:

1. This is just the 19b-4 (new derivative security product filing) approvals. We know from updates and other sources that [the] SEC still isn’t quite ready to approve the S-1s (prospectuses) just yet. So approval could happen here without immediate launch.

2. They could still be denied.”

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