The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected a spot ETF for bitcoin from ARK and 21 stocks, as shown on Jan. 3. 26 filing.
Cboe BZX plans planned ETF listing. A proposed rule change by the exchange that would have allowed the listing was specifically rejected today.
The SEC said Cboe BZX failed to demonstrate its ability to comply with certain sections of the securities law. Although Cboe BZX’s proposal specifically addressed concerns about surveillance, the regulator said the exchange had not shown it could prevent fraud and market manipulation or protect investors.
The regulator rejected Cboe BZX’s previous proposal in April 2022. The exchange submitted a follow-up proposal to the SEC just one month later in May 2022. The SEC pushed back the deadline for making its decision before definitively rejecting the proposal today.
If Cboe BZX’s proposal had succeeded, the resulting ETF could have been run by Ark Invest — an investment management firm headed by Wall Street veteran Cathy Wood — and 21 stocks. It was to be listed on the private Cboe BZX exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected several previous Bitcoin Spot ETF proposals on nearly identical grounds. WisdomTree and VanEck’s requests were denied by the regulator last October and November, respectively. Fidelity, Sky Bridge and others have also been rejected.
The most well-known and enduring ETF applicant is undoubtedly Grayscale, which is aggressively trying to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow it to convert its existing Bitcoin fund into an exchange-traded fund. The parties are now in court on this matter.
So far, US regulators have not approved any Bitcoin spot ETFs. However, the SEC has approved several bitcoin futures ETFs since October 2021.