Not giving up: VanEck refiles with SEC for spot Bitcoin ETF

VanEck, one of the first firms in the world to ever file for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), is not giving up on its plans to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States.

The firm has refiled an application for a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Filed on June 24, VanEck’s latest Bitcoin ETF application comes months after the SEC rejected its previous spot Bitcoin ETF request on Nov. 12, 2021. The securities regulator based its decision on the ETF on its alleged inability to meet standards to protect investors and the public interest as well as to “prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

In the latest filing, VanEck provided a wide number of reasons for the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF this time.

The ETF company argued that the lack of a U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETP) does not prevent U.S. funds from gaining exposure to Bitcoin. That is because many U.S. ETPs use Canadian BTC ETPs to gain exposure to spot BTC, VanEck argued, stating:

“Approving this proposal — and others like it — would provide U.S. ETFs and mutual funds with a U.S.-listed and regulated products to provide such access rather than relying on either flawed products or products listed and primarily regulated in other countries.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Canada was one of the first countries in the world to debut a spot Bitcoin ETF with the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF in February 2021.

VanEck went on to say that approving a spot Bitcoin ETF would be a logical step for the SEC after the authority decided to allow Bitcoin futures-based ETFs. As previously reported, VanEck’s BTC futures ETF started trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange on Nov. 16, 2021.

“After issuing the Bitcoin futures approvals which conclude the CME Bitcoin futures market is a regulated market […] the only consistent outcome would be approving spot Bitcoin ETPs on the basis that the Bitcoin futures market is also a regulated market of significant size as it relates to the Bitcoin spot market,” the new filing reads.

Related: Grayscale’s legal challenge to SEC sparks response from the community

According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Henry Jim, the deadline for VanEck’s latest spot Bitcoin ETF is March 3, 2023.

VanEck is known as one of the first U.S. firms to ever file for a Bitcoin futures ETF. The company originally filed for a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF in June 2018 but the SEC repeatedly postponed its decision over the proposal to eventually reject it three years later.

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