Another US Bitcoin ETF enters the public review period. The frequent actions of the SEC may indicate that "good things are coming"

On Friday local time, the New York Stock Exchange published Form 19B-4 for the issuance of a Bitcoin ETF on behalf of Valkyrie Digital Asset Management, just one day after the U.S. SEC confirmed that it had begun reviewing Kryptoin's Bitcoin ETF application.

(Source: NYSE)

According to the process, after the 19B-4 form is published, the US SEC needs to make a clear response within 45 days to approve, reject or extend the review period. Steven McClurg, chief investment officer of Valkyrie, said that the idea of ​​issuing a Bitcoin ETF was first conceived five years ago, but it was not until recently that he believed that US regulators might approve it. So the company immediately took action and expected to complete the matter as early as August.

Although the US SEC has rejected all Bitcoin ETF issuance applications so far, recent changes in the regulatory authorities have shown the possibility of loosening policies. The new SEC Chairman Geisler, who was just formally approved by Congress this month, is himself a cryptocurrency expert. The former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been teaching cryptocurrency and blockchain courses at MIT in recent years.

More importantly, Dalia Blass, director of the SEC’s investment management division, also left the regulator in January this year. Previously, Blass had publicly questioned whether the Bitcoin market size and liquidity were sufficient to support the issuance of ETF products.

With the change of supervision, many companies have submitted applications to issue Bitcoin ETFs at the first opportunity. Asset management company VanEck submitted an application to issue a Bitcoin ETF in early March and was accepted by the US SEC on March 18. Similar applications from WisdomTree and Kryptoin are currently under review by the SEC. Grayscale, the issuer of GBTC, which has recently suffered a record discount due to its trust structure, has also clearly stated that it is committed to transforming the fund into an ETF to significantly reduce the discount and premium.

(As of the close of this Friday, GBTC is still discounted by more than 10% compared to the value of its Bitcoin holdings. Source: Grayscale)