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- SEC has acknowledged receipt of the Franklin Templeton spot Bitcoin ETF application.
- However, it is yet unknown when the Commission will decide on that following several delays on the already filed ones.
It was recently reported that Global investment firm Franklin Templeton has joined the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Invest, and other firms after filing for a spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the latest update, the SEC has officially acknowledged the filing and will decide on that in due course. Franklin Templeton has a substantial presence in the asset management sector with $1.5 trillion under management.
The terms of its application are also not far from the recent ones as Coinbase (COIN) is chosen as the custodian of Bitcoin held by the fund. On top of that, the ETF would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange. Another entity, Hashdex, has also had an acknowledgment from the SEC.
Reports disclose that the SEC has 240 days to approve or reject an application from the date the filing was recorded in the Federal Register. In the case of the ETH ETF application by VanEck and ARK, the SEC has announced delays in decisions.
According to reports, the Commission has placed the decision date in late May 2024. It is also important to realize that the Commission has the power to request additional feedback from the public during interim deadlines.
Recently, the US House Lawmakers urged the Commission to approve outstanding ETFs immediately. Decisions on ETF applications from BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Wise Origin, VanEck, Bitwise, and Valkyrie Digital Assets were initially expected to be made in mid-October. Decision deadlines for Ark 21Shares and Global X have also been extended by the Commission.
Spot Bitcoin ETF to Attract Investors
Recently, an appeal court ruled against the SEC for rejecting the application of Grayscale Investments to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF. According to the judge, the Commission’s decision to reject the application was “Arbitrary and Capricious.” The recent victory for crypto companies is said to be noteworthy. However, it does not completely resolve the issue since the Commission still has oversight of the industry.
In a recent interview with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, she explained that the Commission has no merit in making calls about where the people should invest their money.
We don’t have the authority to be a merit regulator; to make calls about where people should invest their money; but rather to empower them so that they can make decisions about how to invest their money. That’s a really powerful role. We can stand in between someone who’s trying to raise money and someone who’s trying to invest money and make sure that the information is flowing from the person trying to raise money to the person who’s trying to invest, and that information is accurate. But not to say ‘hey, investor, we think that you should instead invest your money in this company,’ that’s not our role.
A spot Bitcoin ETF approval would drive more institutional investors into the industry, and would propel the asset to a new all-time high. As of press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $26,386.21 and had a bullish market sentiment.
