SEC Delays Again The Decision On NYDIG’s Bitcoin Spot ETF Proposal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision to approve NYDIG’s Bitcoin spot ETF (exchange traded fund) proposal.
NYDIG, a subsidiary of asset manager Stone Ridge Holdings Group, filed its proposal for a Bitcoin spot ETF back in June 30, 2021.
An ETF is an investment product that allows investors to buy shares that represent an asset without having to actually deal with it themselves, be it foreign currencies, gold, or Bitcoin. Market analysts have for years believed that if the SEC were to approve a Bitcoin ETF, it would open the floodgates to institutional investors and boost Bitcoin’s price.
The SEC was expected to make a decision on whether to approve the proposal by Jan. 15, 2022. According to the latest notice, the SEC says that it will decide on the matter by March 16, 2022 instead.
The SEC has previously delayed decisions on similar Bitcoin ETFs. Decisions regarding Bitwise, Grayscale, and WisdomTree were all postponed in December. The regulator also rejected VanEck’s Bitcoin spot ETF proposal outright on November 13.
NYDIG is a digital asset-focused subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset Management valued at $7 billion, making it a sizable company and a major contender in the race for the first Bitcoin spot ETF.
Several Bitcoin futures ETFs, which track the value of Bitcoin futures, have been approved and launched over the past year. Those products came from Valkyrie, ProShares, and VanEck.
A Bitcoin spot ETF would be considerably different, as it would be directly tied to the market value of Bitcoin itself. No such ETF has been launched in the United States to date, and a U.S.-based Bitcoin spot ETF would be a major milestone for the crypto industry.
Some experts predict that a Bitcoin spot ETF will launch before the end of 2022, though past delays suggest the wait may be longer.
Bitcoin ETF doesn’t yet exist in the U.S. because the SEC has repeatedly rejected applications for the product, citing concerns over price manipulation in the crypto market.
