The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted Teucrium permission to launch an ETF for Bitcoin futures on the NYSE Arca exchange.
The SEC has released a statement to this effect. Teucrium and NYSE Arca filed with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form 19b-4. While the already approved futures ETFs of ProShares, Valkyrie and VanEck fell under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The regulator’s approval of the nation’s fourth bitcoin ETF was cause for excitement among institutional investors. They believe that soon the SEC will “give the green light” to the launch of spot ETFs linked to bitcoin.
Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein tweeted that the fees charged by Bitcoin futures ETFs should not oppose the launch of a spot ETF. Sonnenshine explained that when rejecting companies’ applications to launch direct exchange-traded funds for bitcoin, the SEC refers to the standards of the 1940 law, which regulates many investment products on the market and provides more reliable investor protection.
If the regulator approved the new Teucrium investment product, which is subject to the 1933 law, and not the 1940 law, this becomes a strong argument in favor of approving a bitcoin spot ETF. Consequently, the SEC can no longer cite the 1940 law as a determining factor in its review of filings, Sonnenschein continues to argue. His opinion is shared by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. He called the incident a good sign for the bitcoin spot ETF, the approval of which investors have been waiting for many years.
Earlier, Michael Sonnenshine said that the launch of a Bitcoin ETF in the US is only a matter of time. He recently said that Grayscale Investments could file a lawsuit against the SEC if the regulator continues to reject the company’s applications to launch this product.
