The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in the process of reviewing an order it issued in the past week concerning the Bitwise BTC ETF (exchange-traded fund) proposal. NYSE ARCA had submitted the proposal in lieu of the Bitwise Bitcoin exchange-traded fund trust. At the same time, the commission has also announced that it will be seeking to evaluate a suggested rule change for a different kind of BTC ETF.
Exchange-Traded Fund Order Stayed
On October 15, 2019, the SEC sent a letter to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which is the NYSE parent company pertaining to the recent order it issued disapproving the proposal filed by NYSE Arca to trade and list shares belonging to the Bitwise BTC ETF Trust.
The letter mentioned that the proposal had been presented and rejected on October 9. It sought to notify the company that according to the Commission’s Rule of Practice number 431, the SEC had put in motion plans to review the action that had already been delegated. It went on to add:
“According to Rule 431 subsection (e), the decision issued by earlier had been stayed, and would remain so, until further orders were issued by the Commission…All interested parties will be notified by the Office of the Secretary concerning any appropriate action that is to be taken by the SEC.”
Before the proposal was rejected, both Bitwise and ICE had been taking part in active discussions with the SEC regarding the BTC ETF proposal. The SEC emphasized that its decision was not influenced by its views on whether blockchain technology or BTC token had more value or utility as an investment or innovation.
It is worth noting that this was not the first time that the Commission had taken this kind of action. It did the same thing last year (2018) with nine Bitcoin ETFs.
The SEC Mulls Additional Changes
Apart from reviewing the rejection issued earlier in the month, the Commission is also in the process of evaluating an additional change in rules submitted by NYSE Arca. The exchange is interested in both listing and trading of shares belonging to the Treasury Investment Trust, as well as the United States Bitcoin. The exchange filed this proposal on June 12 and later published on July 1 in the Federal Register.
Featured Image: The Guardian