SEC rejects ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF application

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, oregon SEC, has officially disapproved the exertion for ARK 21Shares Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

In a Thursday filing, the SEC rejected a projected regularisation alteration from the Chicago Board Options Exchange, oregon Cboe, BZX Exchange to database and commercialized shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin (BTC) ETF. The SEC said the projected regularisation change, primitively published for remark successful the Federal Register successful August 2021, would not beryllium “‘designed to forestall fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” nor “protect investors and the nationalist interest.”

The SEC said that the Cboe BZX Exchange had not met the requirements of listing a fiscal merchandise nether its rules of signifier arsenic good arsenic those of the Exchange Act. Under these restrictions, exchanges seeking to database a Bitcoin ETF request to person “a broad surveillance-sharing statement with a regulated marketplace of important size related to the underlying oregon notation Bitcoin assets.”

21Shares, a Europe-based exchange-traded merchandise issuer, submitted the spot Bitcoin ETF application with Ark Investment Management successful June 2021 for listing connected the Cboe BZX Exchange nether the ticker ARKB. The SEC had 180 days to scope a determination oregon unfastened the offering to nationalist comment. In January 2022, the regulatory assemblage extended its deliberation window to April.

To date, the SEC has not approved immoderate spot crypto ETF exertion for listing shares successful the United States, but has fixed the greenish airy to concern vehicles linked to BTC futures, including offerings from ProShares, VanEck and Valkyrie. As of October 2021, 21Shares was 1 of the largest organization crypto merchandise issuers, with much than $2 cardinal successful assets nether absorption reported.

Related: SEC could o.k. spot Bitcoin ETFs arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2023

Grayscale, 1 of the adjacent plus managers apt to perceive a determination from the regulatory assemblage connected its spot Bitcoin ETF, launched a run successful February aimed astatine encouraging U.S. investors to taxable comments to the SEC. The regulator is expected to scope a determination connected Grayscale converting its Bitcoin Trust into a spot BTC ETF by July 6.