After years of rejections, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the first wave of Bitcoin spot ETFs for trade in the United States on an accelerated basis.
- Per a filing to the SEC’s website on Wednesday, all 11 Bitcoin ETF applicants have been approved for trade across national securities exchanges like the NYSE, Nasdaq, and CBOE.
- That includes funds provided by Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, BlackRock, Valkyrie, Ark Invest/21Shares, Invesco/Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton.
“Each proposal seeks to list and trade shares of a Trust that would hold spot bitcoin,16 in whole or inPart,” wrote the SEC. “This order approves the Proposals on an accelerated basis.”
- The announcement confirms prior notices from the CBOE indicating that multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs would begin trading at 9:30 am ET on Thursday, including funds from Ark, Fidelity, and Invesco.
- The SEC has rejected spot ETFs for years over fears that the underlying Bitcoin spot market wasn’t sufficiently regulated, and was thus unsuited for public markets.
- However, a court loss to Grayscale in August forced to agency to make a “fresh evaluation” of ETF applications.
“The Commission finds that the Proposals are consistent with the Exchange Act and rules and regulations thereunder applicable to a national securities exchange,” the agency wrote in its approval order, adding that their rules are sufficient to “prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”