US SEC delays decision on Ark’s spot Bitcoin ETF

The regulator decided to postpone the decision date by a few weeks to even months from now

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pushed back its decision regarding Cathie Wood‘s spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) application.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently confirmed that it will be postponing its decision on whether to approve the Cathie Wood-backed Ark Investment Management’s (ARK) spot bitcoin ETF. This, as per a filing by the regulator shared on Friday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is now looking for public comment regarding the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund application. The regulator decided to postpone the decision date by a few weeks to even months from now. It was earlier expected to announce a decision by August 13, 2023.

The regulator is known for declining several applications for spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds, which are publicly traded investment instruments that directly track the bitcoin price.

As first reported by Reuters, the Securities and Exchange Commission cited an insufficient level of trade monitoring which may lead to the underlying spot market being vulnerable to deceptive activities as well as potential market manipulation.

Nevertheless, futures-based Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds which track the price of bitcoin futures contracts have been allowed by regulators for the last couple years.

Rising interest from large financial services providers has done a lot to lift the nascent crypto-asset markets recently. The volatile sector had been facing several challenges because of a number of major events such as the collapse of FTX crypto currency exchange.

Remarkably, in June of this year, BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, submitted a bitcoin ETF application, a key industry development that experts considered to be a vital step for the crypto ecosystem.

Back in 2021, Cathie Wood’s ARK and crypto-focused investment business 21Shares US LLC had partnered to submit an application for a spot bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund with the SEC.