SEC Requests Comments on Concerns About Grayscale's Spot Bitcoin ETF Proposal

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expressed concerns about how Grayscale will head off share manipulation, fraud and other possible issues in its proposal to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a notice Friday.

• The regulator also flagged its concerns about the liquidity and transparency of bitcoin markets, as well as the “suitability” of bitcoin as the underlying asset for the fund. Grayscale is a unit of Digital Currency Group, which is also the parent of CoinDesk.
• The SEC has asked the public to comment on these issues, and given them 21 days to do so, with an additional 14 days for responses to those comments.
• Earlier this week, the SEC requested investment manager Bitwise to respond to similar concerns about its own spot bitcoin ETF proposal.
• Grayscale initially filed an application with the SEC to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a bitcoin spot ETF in October. In December, the SEC pushed off its review of Grayscale's application by 45 days.
• Over the past couple of months, the agency has rejected spot bitcoin ETF applications from WisdomTree, Krypton, SkyBridge and Fidelity. It is weighing a number of other applications from investment firms.

CORRECTION (Feb. 4, 2022, 22:00 UTC): Corrects bullet point on comment and rebuttal periods for the public.

CORRECTION (Feb. 4, 2022, 22:12 UTC): Corrects bullet point to state that the SEC's concerns are about the liquidity and transparency of Bitcoin markets.

UPDATE (Feb. 4, 2022, 22:32 UTC): Updated with additional detail throughout.