SEC approves first Bitcoin ETF in the US
SEC approves first Bitcoin ETF in the US
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the first U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), marking a major milestone for the entire crypto industry.
Gary Gensler, chairman of the SEC, acknowledged that the regulator's loss in court over the rejection of Grayscale's application for a spot Bitcoin ETF left it with no choice but to approve more than a dozen such proposals.
The regulator said it approved 11 applications, including those from BlackRock (BLK.N), Ark Investments/21Shares (ABTC.S), Fidelity, Invesco (IVZ.N), and VanEck, despite warnings about the risks associated with these products, Reuters reported.
In a statement following the SEC's decision to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, Gensler called the approvals "the most sustainable path forward."
"Investors should remain cautious about the many risks associated with Bitcoin and products whose value is tied to the cryptocurrency," the statement said.
The SEC chief made it clear that the signing of the ETF would not lead to any further action by the U.S. securities regulator.
"This should in no way signal the Commission's willingness to adopt listing standards for cryptoasset securities," he said.
The SEC considers Bitcoin (BTC) to be the only digital asset; all other tokens meet the legal definition of securities that rightfully fall under the regulator's jurisdiction, according to the SEC.
James Seyffarth, an analyst at Bloomberg, wrote in a post on X (Twitter) that most of the products will begin trading as early as Thursday.
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Spot Bitcoin ETFs will give investors access to the world's largest cryptocurrency without owning it directly and help create strong momentum for the crypto industry.
Standard Chartered analysts believe the ETFs could raise between $50 billion and $100 billion in 2024.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $45,903. The cryptocurrency has surged more than 70% in recent months in anticipation of the ETFs, hitting its highest level since March 2022 this week.
Most analysts believe that the inflow of funds into BTC will largely depend on fees and liquidity.
Some issuers have lowered proposed fees in their revised filings, including BlackRock and Ark/21Shares. According to the latest fee figures, they range from 0.2% to 1.5%, with many firms offering to waive fees altogether for a period of time.
Interestingly, the official SEC account does not highlight the fact that ETFs are approved in any way. The SECGov X account, which is managed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has not published anything since its account was confirmed to have been compromised on January 9, which happened after a "false" tweet about the approval of a Bitcoin ETF.
Read also: Turkey nears finalization of crypto regulation rules
