Yesterday, members of the federal SEC commission had a confidential meeting with executives from Nasdaq, NYSE, and other exchanges to discuss some issues regarding the possible approval of a stock exchange-traded fund, also known as a spot ETF, for Bitcoin.
These meetings are of a normal administrative nature and are usually held by the SEC when it is about to “finalize comments”, that is, conclude the final procedures, before approving a new financial instrument.
Anyway, it is not yet known what was discussed during the meeting, and it may remain a secret for a few more days.
In this frenzy situation, there are those who are taking the opportunity to spread FUD, like the consulting company Matrixport that yesterday published a highly criticized report, stating that the SEC will most likely reject the approval requests for a Bitcoin spot ETF in January.
What is happening then? Will the SEC accept or reject the requests from BlackRock, Ark, Vaneck, and other funds?
Let’s see everything in detail below.
Nasdaq meets with the SEC to discuss Bitcoin spot ETF
According to some rumors, later confirmed by the main US media, yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held a meeting with executives from Nasdaq, NYSE, and other operators of the US markets, to discuss some issues related to the long-awaited spot ETF for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
As reported by Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, the Nadaq team, which last summer filed 19b-4 for iShares BlackRock Bitcoin with the SEC, is discussing with other major exchanges in the sector the “finalization of comments” for the same documents.
All this makes you think at first glance that the approval of a negotiated fund on the stock market for the first main cryptocurrency in the market is now only a matter of time.
As highlighted by Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, the SEC usually does not organize this type of meetings if it intends to deny or delay proposals made by investment funds.
According to Balchunas himself, the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF would now be imminent.
Things you prob don’t do if you going to deny or delay. Hearing similar btw, and why why when we see updated (final) 19b-4s roll in that is sign approval imminent as SEC has been doing back and forth w issuers offline to perfect their 19b-4s vs doing numerous refilings a la S-1s https://t.co/1K0tUYD4xa
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 3, 2024
Regarding the news, Nasdaq representatives have chosen not to make any statements to the media. The NYSE and CBOE have also not responded to comment requests, leaving crypto sector investors on edge, who have been waiting for months for the approval of a regulated instrument for Bitcoin.
Despite the confidentiality of the various entities, the enthusiasm of the crypto market operators is palpable: many expect that by January 10th the SEC will approve the first request made by Ark, as it is the last available date to issue a final verdict.
In particular, the SEC will no longer be able to delay its decision: on that date, it can only accept or reject Ark’s ETF, with deadlines for other providers set in the following days.
On January 14th and 15th, the dates for a verdict on the requests from BlackRock, Bitwise, VanEck, Wisdomtree, Invesco & Galaxy, and Fidelity are indeed set.
Matrixport’s report on the ETF issue: SEC will reject all requests in January
While the SEC finalizes the last details regarding the spot ETF issue with Nasdaq and other operators, there is no shortage of those who try to spread FUD within the cryptographic sector.
Just yesterday, the crypto consulting services company Matrixport published a report highlighting a completely different scenario from what has been described in recent months by industry experts.
According to Matrixport, the US federal agency will reject all requests for the Bitcoin spot ETF in January, leaving the possibility of approval in March, which is the deadline for other investment funds.
The report clearly states:
“The chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, is not embracing cryptocurrencies in the United States, and it is unlikely to expect him to vote in favor of approving Bitcoin spot ETFs.”
The pessimism of society would be motivated by political issues: in fact, 5 SEC commissioners are Democrats and do not have propagandistic interests in approving such a controversial instrument as a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
In this context, it is worth remembering that almost all Democrats in the United States are against cryptocurrencies and on several occasions have tried to hinder the progress of the sector.
In addition, according to Matrixport’s negative thesis, the ETF applicants have not satisfied all of the SEC’s requirements.
However, it is important to note in this context that ALL of these explanations have no scientific basis and are not supported by any source: therefore, they are personal thoughts of the Matrixport representatives, which could turn out to be completely wrong.
In the midst of publishing this dissenting opinion, which goes against the current of the rest of the cryptographic industry, Bitcoin experienced its first major downturn yesterday after months of uptrend.
In just one day, the asset lost 4.68% of its value, reaching nearly $40,000 with a downward spike and closing the day at $42,800.
Many users on X have immediately blamed “the faults” of this dump on Matrixport, which has contributed to spreading pessimism in the market.
Actually, there is no slightest certainty of this cause-effect relationship, and the BTC dump could be related to broader issues.
On the same day, there was also a heavy retracement for the indices S&P500 and Nasdaq, which lost 0.8% and 1.18% respectively.
Both came, like Bitcoin, from a context of a bullish rally that had been uninterrupted for months.
Yesterday’s crash could therefore be the beginning of a retracement phase that has nothing to do with the ETF issue, or at the same time it could be part of a reset movement in a situation of excessive market extension.
It is worth noting how the open interest and funding rate of derivative markets on Bitcoin had reached levels of excessive enthusiasm. Yesterday’s crash served to bring financing rates back to regular levels (so longs still dominate leverage demand), liquidating a wide range of traders who were positioned for an upward trend.
In just a few hours, liquidations have reached half a billion dollars, bringing rationality and seriousness back to the cryptocurrency market.
