KEY POINTS
- The SEC will reportedly announce its decision on spot Bitcoin ETF applications on Jan. 10
- The date is a little bit later than the timeline predicted by Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz
- Analyst James Seyffart said earlier this month that the SEC window for possible approvals would be between Jan. 5 and 10
Wall Street giants who submitted proposals to become issuers of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. are growing increasingly confident that approval is on the horizon, especially since a new report has claimed that the crypto investment vehicle will be given the "green light" on Jan. 10, 2024.
The U.S. could see its first set of spot Bitcoin ETF issuers early next year, a Fox Business report said Wednesday, citing a recent SEC guideline seen by "sources close to these firms."
The final deadline for the SEC to decide on the application submitted by Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management in partnership with 21Shares is set for Jan. 10. However, besides approving ARK's spot Bitcoin ETF, it is believed that the regulator could also give the go signal to several other applications on that date, the report said, affirming industry experts' previous comment on the manner the commission would approve the proposals.
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein shared in an interview earlier this month that he's hoping the major Wall Street regulator would approve multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs at once to "even the playing field."
"I think that the SEC should and does, in fact, want to create an even playing field," he said. "We've publicly been advocates of the fact that when the commission is ready to give the requisite approvals for spot products to come to market, that it should be done all at once — the issuers who are operationally ready to launch their products should come out the gate all at once."
The latest report on the date the SEC would announce its decision is in contrast with what Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz earlier predicted.
The executive anticipated that the approval could happen even before the fated Jan. 10 deadline and noted that it might take six to eight weeks before the approved spot Bitcoin ETFs could start trading.
"We're going to get this ETF before Jan. 10. That's kind of the drop dead date that Gensler has before he gets in trouble with Grayscale and the lawsuit, and so I think you're going to see this announced. It wouldn't start trading then, it probably takes six to eight weeks after that," he said in a recent interview in which he made a reference to a court ruling that asked the SEC to reconsider Grayscale's bid for a spot bitcoin ETF.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart said the window for possible approvals would be between Jan. 5 and Jan. 10.
Window is officially Jan 5th to Jan 10th. Really this means that any potential approval orders are going to come on either Monday Jan 8, Tuesday Jan 9, or Wednesday Jan 10. Mark your calendars people. https://t.co/8ob8Y6pgU5
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) December 1, 2023
"Window is officially Jan 5th to Jan 10th. Really this means that any potential approval orders are going to come on either Monday Jan 8, Tuesday, Jan 9 or Wednesday, Jan 10. Mark your calendars people," the analyst wrote in a post on X.
