An announcement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the decision concerning bitcoin ETFs of investment firm Direxion is postponed until September 21.
In January of this year, investment firm Direxion submitted five bitcoin ETFs and applied for their approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The ETFs included Direxion Daily Bitcoin Bear 1X Shares, Direxion Daily Bitcoin 1.25X Bull Shares, Direxion Daily Bitcoin 1.5X Bull Shares, Direxion Daily Bitcoin 2X Bull Shares, and Direxion Daily Bitcoin 2X Bear Shares. Today the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissio (SEC) has announced that they require more time to consider these ETF applications.
The Direxion ETF proposals will be in question till September 21. The statement by SEC reads:
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider this proposed rule change. Accordingly, the Commission, … designates September 21, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove the proposed rule change.”
The Commission noted that, in accordance with the provisions of its enabling Act, it was supposed to indicate its decision within 180 days of the date of publication of the proposed rule change notice. That publication date was January 24th, which meant that the SEC’s decision was originally due on July 23. However, SEC is using a special extension period not exceeding 60 days to have enough time for proper studying the proposal before arriving at a decision.
The crypto community seems to be excited at the prospect of a bitcoin ETF, and approval of such ETFs by the financial regulators gives traditional money managers easier exposure to Bitcoin.
Last month, the SEC received an ETF application from CBOE. The ETF will allow for over-the-counter (OTC) trading for accredited investors while providing them with complete security and insurance. Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission formally issued a call for public comment on the proposal to list a bitcoin ETF on a regulated exchange. 97% of the people have shown sincere interest in Bitcoin ETF, and they want them to be released soon.
The ETF application by CBOE is just one of many submitted to the SEC. The latest proposal came from Bitwise Asset Management Inc., a San Francisco asset manager specializing in cryptocurrencies. The firm recently hired several ETF veterans and on June 24th filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to introduce an ETF that would track an index of the top 10 cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum.
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