The cryptocurrency investment firm has stepped up its lobbying efforts with the U.S. regulator following its recent nod to a Bitcoin futures ETF.
See related story: SEC comes around on Bitcoin ETFs
Fast facts
- Grayscale’s lawyers have written to the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that its application for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) should be treated no differently from a Bitcoin futures ETF.
- NYSE Arca’s application to list Teucrium’s Bitcoin futures-based ETF was approved earlier this month.
- “We believe that the Teucrium order confirms the fundamental point made in our November 29, 2021 letter … [w]hen it comes to approving ETPs, there is not a basis for treating spot Bitcoin products differently from Bitcoin futures products,” said Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, the law firm representing Grayscale.
- Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said on Twitter that “if the SEC is comfortable with a Bitcoin futures ETF, it must also be comfortable with a spot Bitcoin ETF. And the SEC can no longer justifiably cite the (1940) Act as being the differentiating factor.”
- The SEC is expected to decide on Grayscale’s ETF application in July.
- Sonnenshein has said that he would consider suing the SEC if the application is rejected.
See related article: A fast one from down under: Australia approves BTC, ETH ETFs