The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pushed the deadline to make a decision on approving three Bitcoin (BTC)-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) until Jan. 29, 2023.
According to a notice filed by the SEC on Oct. 9, the regulator has pushed the deadline for making a decision on three BTC ETF proposals submitted by Bitwise Asset Management and ARK Investment Management, as well as on shares of the NYSE Bitcoin ETN from 21Shares AG until Jan. 29, 2023.
The reason for these extensions has not been made public by either company or regulatory body, but it could be due to technical issues or some other factor that requires more time to work out before going forward with an application for approval from federal regulators in Washington D.C., who have yet to approve any such applications since 2017 when they rejected nine applications in one fell swoop as part of what became known as The Great Crypto Winter of 2018-2019 which saw BTC go from $20k down towards $3k before rebounding again towards where it sits today at $10k+ USD per coin depending on how much you bought in at during those ups-and-downs!
SEC Deadline Gets Pushed
According to a notice filed by the SEC on Oct. 9, it has decided not to approve or disapprove any of these proposals at this time but will seek public comment until Dec. 7 after which it will make its final decision if necessary. The agency’s approval would allow investors to buy into these funds without having to physically buy bitcoins themselves via an exchange like Coinbase or Gemini that trades them in large amounts due to regulatory concerns surrounding price manipulation which can push prices down when bought in large numbers all at once.
The SEC has not yet approved a Bitcoin ETF, and it seems unlikely it will approve any in the near future. The SEC’s decision to push back this decision until January 2023 is not surprising given the current regulatory environment.
