According to multiple reports on Wednesday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened negotiations with Grayscale over the details of its GBTC to spot ETF conversion filing. The latest talks follow a decision by the US-based regulator on filing after deciding against appealing a court ruling mandating it to sign off on the application.
Grayscale has been in talks with the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the Division of Corporate Finance after a court ruled that the Wall Street top regulator should approve Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF application.
A Matter of When, Not If
Speaking about the SEC’s potential approval of its first spot ETF, Grayscale’s Chief Legal Officer, Craig Salm, said it was a matter of time now, not if the SEC would roll out the Bitcoin product.
“There are still things that have to be worked through. Overall, it’s been a good engagement, and it’s a matter of when, not a matter of if anymore,” Salm stated in an interview.
Salm noted that Grayscale’s focus now is to work out the conversion details with the SEC’s Trading and Markets department. He cited that the department and the Corporate Finance division play a vital role in approving the ETF application.
An Early Approval?
New research from Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart showed that the Bitcoin spot ETF approval could come earlier than expected. In a tweet on Wednesday, he revealed that the SEC has an 8-day brief window opening on Thursday that allows it to approve all spot ETF applications.
Initially, the analyst noted a 75% chance of the SEC approving all 12 Bitcoin spot ETFs on January 12, 2024. Still, with the open window, the agency could decide to sanction them all on or before November 17.
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market bounced on the spot ETF update. The largest cryptocurrency in the world reached $36,000 for the first time since April 2022.
