Investment firm VanEck has filed an application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), despite Grayscale’s application getting rejected on Tuesday. 

See related article: Next step for spot Bitcoin ETF in the US may be a courtroom battle

Fast facts

  • VanEck had filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF, but was rejected by the SEC in November 2021. 
  • The SEC has cited concerns about market manipulation and investor protection in turning down all spot Bitcoin ETF applications to date.  
  • The regulator has approved Bitcoin ETFs based on futures contracts and derivatives. 
  • The SEC approved exchange-traded products for other commodities and currencies in unregulated markets and the agency relied on the underlying futures market as the regulated market to form the basis for approvals, VanEck’s filing said. 
  • “[The] precedent makes clear that an underlying market for a spot commodity or currency being a regulated market would actually be an exception to the norm,” the filing said. 

See related article: VanEck Bitcoin-linked ETF XBTF price slightly down in CBOE debut