Bitcoin-ETF issuers hope for long-awaited SEC OK this week

investmentnews.com:

A series of high-stakes deadlines this week will mark the culmination of a years-long push to launch exchange-traded funds backed by bitcoin in the U.S.

Would-be bitcoin ETF issuers have been given until Monday morning in Washington to submit any last-minute revisions to their pending applications, Bloomberg News has reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission itself has until Wednesday to take action on at least one of those applications, and crypto insiders have speculated the regulator will use that date to announce a slew of decisions at once. 

There are two technical requirements that must be fulfilled before a spot-backed bitcoin ETF can start trading. First, the SEC must sign off on so-called19b-4 filings by the exchanges that would list the ETFs. Second, the regulator must approve the relevant S-1 forms, which are the registration applications from the would-be issuers — a list that includes BlackRock and Fidelity.

The SEC is planning to vote on the exchanges’ filings, the 19b-4s, in the coming days, Bloomberg News has reported. The regulator may or may not then take action on the issuers’ applications, the S-1s, around the same time. If the SEC grants both sets of required approvals, the ETFs could start trading as soon as the next business day. 

An SEC representative declined to comment on the status of the applications.

Bitcoin’s boosters say ETFs backed by the largest crypto token would represent a watershed moment for digital assets. Billions of dollars are at stake, representing potential inflows from retail and institutional investors alike. 

“The market is still seriously underestimating the potential impact of a bitcoin ETF approval,” said Michael Anderson, co-founder of crypto venture firm