- Analysts believe that it is 75 percent certain that the US Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF this year following the Grayscale ruling.
- SEC is also supposed to decide on BlackRock and Bitwise’s ETF by Friday as investors keep watches on.
Grayscale Investments recently sealed a landmark victory over the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a decision that could be a huge turnaround for the entire crypto industry. The whole drama stems from a decision by the SEC to reject the firm’s request to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin offering.
This was not taken lightly by the asset manager who decided to seek redress at the court. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel agreed that the denial of Grayscale’s proposal was “arbitrary and capricious.”
According to Judge Neomi Rao, the Commission made no explanation for its “different treatment of similar products”. SEC has also stated that it is reviewing the court decision and coming up with its next possible action. The crypto market, in response, flipped within a couple of days to a bullish sentiment as investors await the first Bitcoin spot ETF approval in the US with bated breath.
In an interview with Bloomberg Markets, Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein has labeled the court’s decision as a big win. This has increased the possibility of approval as several firms re-submit their Bitcoin ETF applications. When asked about the next line of action for Grayscale, Sonnenshein admitted that the future remains uncertain.
We will have to see upon the final operational procedures that come through that final mandate that the court will issue. We don’t know what the final opinion will say until we reach the end of that period.
Analysts Expect an ETF Approval Following Grayscale Ruling
According to him, Grayscale has not received any type of communication from the Commission following the recent ruling. Regardless of what the next step could be, investors are aggressively opening positions as GBTC shares recorded a 17 percent surge on Tuesday. Bitcoin saw just a 6 percent gain.
On Wednesday, the share lost 4 percent of its value. The discount to the underlying holding was said to be around 18 percent. James Seyffart, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, admitted that there is uncertainty among market participants. However, there is more confidence in conversion now.
Sonnenshein further commented on the ruling:
Yesterday was the culmination of more than a year’s worth of litigation. Huge win for Grayscale, a huge win for our investors, and really the crypto and investment communities as a whole. Crypto as an asset class is most certainly here to stay.
According to Bloomberg senior ETF analysts, Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, the possibility of one of the six Bitcoin spot ETFs getting approval this year is 75 percent. Also, there is a 95 percent chance of approval by the end of 2024.
Dave Weisberger, CEO of CoinRoutes, has also stated that it is almost certain that BlackRock and Fidelity would get approval. For Grayscale, they would have to resubmit their application.
There is more tension as the SEC has until Friday to make decisions on BlackRock and Bitwise’s ETF.
Bitcoin is currently making a recovery from its bearish run and has surged by 2.7 percent in the last seven days to trade at $27,214.72.
