ARK Invest- the firm founded by Cathie Wood, and 21Shares- a crypto investment firm from Europe- have both been unperturbed by the cryptocurrency regulatory environment in the United States- for they have again requested approval for an ETF based on Bitcoin.
On 25th April, the two companies went on to request the US Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the creation of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund- even though they had been rejected twice in the past. The two companies had first filed for this on 28th June 2021, a request that the SEC rejected in April 2022. The regulator went on to state that the product didn’t meet with the requirements of listing a financial product under its guidelines of practice- as well as those of the Exchange Act.
ARK and 21 Shares About To File For Spot Bitcoin ETF Once Again
ARK and 21Shares had filed another request in May 2022- and the SEC rejected it on 26th January 2023. For those who are wondering about the tenacity shown by the companies, an ETF actually allows the investors exposure to a particular asset without actually owning the underlying financial product. A spot Bitcoin ETF- the one that they have been applying for also allows the investors to obtain indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency with shares that would track the price of BTC in real-time without actually holding on to the cryptocurrency.
Interestingly, although the SEC has gone ahead and approved a number of Bitcoin Futures ETFs- which allows the buyers to see the future value of the cryptocurrency- it has actually rejected every single application for a spot Bitcoin ETF- which ARK and 21Shares have been trying to gain. The SEC cited difficulties with protecting the public interest as well as the investors against manipulation and fraud.
