The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Reuters

KEY POINTS

  • The SEC had set 8 a.m. Monday as deadline for hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers to submit their paperwork
  • Applicants that received feedback on their filings Monday should file their updated documents Tuesday
  • The SEC has to approve both the 19b-4 and S-1 filings before the Bitcoin ETF can start trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday scrambled to evaluate and answer spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings of hopeful issuers as it raced against time ahead of the Wednesday deadline. Industry watchers and analysts described the regulator's immediate response as "borderline unheard of."

The major Wall Street had regulator set 8 a.m. Monday as deadline for hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers to submit their paperwork.

While it usually takes days for the agency to provide comments or feedback on the documents, the SEC evaluated the paperwork immediately and provided its feedback within hours Monday.

Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that "this just shows how quickly the SEC is turning these things around. Borderline unheard of to send over a document to the SEC in the morning and get comments back the same day."

Finance lawyer Scott Johnsson agreed with Seyffart and commented, "Yes, it's unheard of. And to remind everyone, S-1s do not NEED to be complete when 19b-4s are approved. Take futures ETFs in 2022. Hashdex didn't even get initial comments until after its 19b-4 was approved. More than anything, these quick comments demonstrate SEC working to push everything forward for a quick approval and launch (vs what we saw with futures)."

Applicants that received feedback on their filings Monday should file their updated documents Tuesday. They are are just minor details in the S-1 forms that issuers submitted on Monday and would not impact the timeline of possible approval.

However, it shows SEC officials are still having discussions with hopeful issuers, many of whom submitted their proposals in the summer.

As for the 21-day comment period of the SEC on the 19b-4 filings, Johnsson explained, "Pretty sure those aren't mandatory periods like the ones that occur following the second delay (which are required as part of instituting proceedings under the statute)."

The SEC has to approve both the 19b-4 and S-1 filings before the Bitcoin ETF can start trading.

Bitcoin was trading in the green zone at $46,598.87, with its 24-hour trading volume up by 68.85% at $40,976,620,644 as of 6:03 a.m. ET on Tuesday. The latest price action represents a 6.33% increase in its value on the day and a 2.74% gain over the past seven days.

Data from CoinMakretCap shows that Bitcoin's current circulating supply stands at 19,593,675 BTC and its market cap is at $912,764,738,105.

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