SEC Increases Number Of Meetings With Spot Bitcoin ETF Applicants As Deadline Nears

The number of meetings between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers has increased over the past weeks, as the final deadline for decision on approval nears.

Last Thursday, the SEC, which was expected to give approval to ETFs tied to spot Bitcoin early in 2024, met with potential Bitcoin ETF issuers seven times, bringing the total number of meetings with Bitcoin ETF applicants to 32.

Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart tweeted that three issuers -- Bitwise, Invesco and Hashdex -- have not met with the agency just yet, leading to speculations that the regulator might have found these firms S-1 filings to be fine.

"So far we know there were at least 7 separate meetings/calls between SEC and potential #bitcoin ETF issuers yesterday. Total meetings at 32. Notably @BitwiseInvest, @InvescoUS, & @hashdex aren't showing official meetings (Yet?). Maybe SEC is okay with their current S-1 documents," Seyffart said in a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Moreover, Seyffart noted that among the applicants, Global X and WisdomTree, have also not met with the SEC, and added he would not expect the new spot Bitcoin ETF applicants, Pando and 7RCC, to meet the agency.

"Wisdomtree & Global X have zero meetings on record with SEC. Wondering if maybe they aren't planning to enter this race anymore. Wouldn't really expect Pando and 7RCC to have meetings yet. Likely not in the first wave due to later filings," he said in follow-up tweets.

Last week, the major Wall Street regulator reportedly called every applicant and offered them two choices: amend their filings by including cash creation and redemption model or else wait for the next batch of approval, Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said.

"We hearing it wasn't one giant conf call b/t SEC and every issuer but rather many calls to exchanges/issuers to reiterate that its Cash Creates or You Will Wait, which we knew already via chatter and the updated S-1s this week. Still, interesting & good sign for Jan tho," the EFF analyst said in a tweet last week.

Bitcoin, the world's largest crypto asset by market capitalization, was trading in the red zone at $43,236.31 with a 24-hour trading volume up by 32.69% at $19.05 billion as of 3:49 a.m. ET on Monday.

Bitcoin's latest price action represents a 1.02% decrease in its value over the past 24 hours and a 5.17 gain in the last seven days.

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin's current circulating supply stands at 19.58 million BTC and its market cap is at $846.45 billion.