A Matter Of When Not If For Spot Bitcoin ETF – Grayscale CEO

In a recent interview, Grayscale Investments' CEO said that a bitcoin spot ETF is "a question of when, not if."

Grayscale is waiting to hear back from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its request to transform Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a bitcoin ETF.

Despite widespread desire, crypto exchange laws may not be implemented until 2023.

A Matter Of When Not If

In a recent interview with CNBC, Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein said, "It truly is a question of when, not if there is a (US-based) bitcoin spot ETF."

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accepted a new bitcoin futures ETF, which was filed under the Securities Act of 1993 rather than the Securities Exchange Act of 1940, unlike earlier bitcoin futures ETF applications.

As a consequence, crypto experts claim that the form of this new ETF paves the way for the adoption of spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States, an investment product that the crypto community has long pushed for.

Despite receiving clearance in countries including Canada and Brazil, the SEC has so far rejected all applications for a spot bitcoin ETF, citing worries about manipulation and fraud.

"From the SEC's standpoint, there were several protections that (19)40 Act products have that (19)33 products don't have," Grayscale Investments CEO Sonnenshein said, "but those protections never ever addressed the SEC's concern over the underlying bitcoin market and the potential for fraud or manipulation."

"The fact that they've now altered their thinking and authorized a 33 Act product with Teucrium really invalidates that argument and speaks to the connectivity between bitcoin futures and the underlying bitcoin spot markets that provide the futures contracts with their value," Sonnenshein concluded.

"If the SEC can't look at two similar concerns, the futures ETF and the spot ETF, through the same lens," he concluded, "then there might be grounds for an Administrative Procedure Act violation."

Grayscale is waiting for the SEC's examination of its request to transform Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a bitcoin ETF to be completed. The SEC is expected to respond in early July.

The CEO of the business has been a prominent critic of the SEC's delayed and hesitant approach to approving a spot bitcoin ETF.

Lack Of Crypto Exchange Regulation A Problem

Last week, a crypto expert writing for CoinDesk expressed skepticism about the chance of a bitcoin ETF being approved in the near future.

They said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voiced concerns about the unregulated nature of crypto spot exchanges in the United States (at the federal level). Meanwhile, the SEC has said in previous ETF rejections that the exchanges pushing crypto ETFs have not yet adequately addressed concerns about manipulation and fraud.

They said, "It is probable (to me) that the agency will continue to reject spot ETF applications, at least for the foreseeable future."

This viewpoint is consistent with a recent argument made by Bloomberg Intelligence experts. Given a potential rule change that would bring cryptocurrency exchanges into the regulatory fold, they suggest that spot bitcoin ETFs might start receiving SEC approval by mid-2023.

Investors Clamor For Bitcoin ETF

Many in the financial sector are frustrated by the SEC's refusal to approve a bitcoin ETF.

In a poll conducted by 2022 Bitwise/ETF Trends earlier this year, 82 percent of advisers stated they would prefer to invest in a spot bitcoin ETF over a futures-based bitcoin ETF.

Similarly, a recent Nasdaq poll of 500 financial advisers indicated that 72 percent of them would be more comfortable investing in crypto if there was a spot ETF.

The approval of the first US-based spot bitcoin ETF, according to crypto experts, would be a major step toward greater institutional acceptance of the asset class.