According to the 10-page notice, the SEC expressly requests 'written comments' from 'interested people' in the general public to provide their 'ideas, statistics, and arguments' addressing the regulator's previous concerns about market fraud, manipulation, and overall lack of transparency.
According to the notice, the public has 21 days from today, as specified in the Federal Register, to submit written data, views, and arguments on whether Grayscale's application should be granted or denied, with a 35-day window for rebuttal. According to the notification, individuals interested in submitting comments to the SEC can do so either electronically or on paper.
Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset management firm, applied in October to convert shares of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF, attempting to reverse previous rejections of BTC spot ETF applications by the regulator.
Unfortunately, the SEC announced two months later that it would be delaying its decision on Grayscale's application, citing major issues such as market fraud, manipulation, and transparency. According to a tweet, Grayscale has $36.5 billion in assets under management as of February 4th, with its GBTC product accounting for nearly 71% of total assets.
The SEC also rejected Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust at the end of January, just seven days after rejecting a spot bitcoin ETF proposal from First Trust and SkyBridge Capital. Surprisingly, in rejecting Fidelity, the SEC went into great detail on surveillance-sharing agreements and the SEC's responsibility to ensure that exchanges follow the Exchange Act's requirements.
It's worth noting that the SEC approved ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF in October of that year, making it the first Bitcoin futures fund to be allowed in the US, followed by a pair of Strategy ETFs from Valkyrie and VanEck.