US Securities and Exchange Commission Delays Decision on Bitwise Spot Bitcoin ETF. 5 Key Things To Know

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said a few days ago that it had not yet decided whether or not to authorise Bitwise Asset Management to list a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The SEC also solicited public input on the fund's application. The regulator said it would start a process to decide whether to accept or reject Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust's application to list on the NYSE Arca market of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. The delay comes after several issuers, including Fidelity, SkyBridge, and Valkyrie were rejected spot Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC in recent months.

Here are 5 things to know about the delay:

1) The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Bitwise to explain how it plans to prevent share manipulation, fraud, and other potential concerns in its planned spot Bitcoin ETF. It also wanted to know about predicted share trading volumes, liquidity, and transparency in the Bitcoin markets.

2) The SEC also expressed concerns about the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust's liquidity and transparency and asked for more information on Bitcoin's suitability as the fund's underlying asset.

3) The SEC also sought opinions on various aspects of the Bitwise ETF application, including the estimated volume of the ETF and whether it may have a significant effect on Bitcoin futures trading on CME Group's market.

4) While the SEC rejected Bitcoin ETFs from numerous issuers, including Fidelity, SkyBridge, and VanEck, futures-backed products like the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF and the VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF were approved. Since the SEC approved the first Bitcoin futures ETFs last year, there has been a sustained renewed interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF became one of the most popular exchange-traded funds in history. However, it appeared to catch the most of the hype leading up to its launch, something the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF lacked.

5) The Securities and Exchange Commission has given Bitwise 21 days to respond to its concerns.

The value of Bitcoin has dropped to about half in recent months, hitting a six-month low of $32,950 (roughly Rs. 24.68 lakhs) on January 24 after peaking at $69,000 (roughly Rs. 51.7 lakhs) in November. At the time of writing, the world's oldest cryptocurrency was trading at roughly Rs 29.35 lakhs.