Fidelity, Grayscale and VanEck Push Forward With Spot Bitcoin ETF Filings Ahead of Deadline

The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund filed Form 8-A with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to report the approval of registering its shares as securities on the Cboe BZX Exchange. However, this doesn’t mean the SEC has endorsed Fidelity’s proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

After submitting the form, confusion arose about whether the SEC had approved Fidelity’s ETF. In reality, the regulator accepted the fund’s registration to be listed on a U.S. exchange.

As expectations for approval continue to rise, some Bloomberg experts, like James Seyffart, speculate that the SEC might approve multiple applications for spot BTC ETFs before the January 10 deadline.

The SEC has 14 pending Bitcoin ETF applications

Currently, the SEC has 14 pending applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs from various major asset managers, including BlackRock, Grayscale Investments, Valkyrie, VanEck, Bitwise, Fidelity, WisdomTree, and Invesco Galaxy, among others.

To date, the SEC has never approved a spot Bitcoin ETF for listing or trading on a U.S. exchange. Excitement around ETFs surged in late June 2023 with the entry of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers with around $9 trillion in assets under management.

Following BlackRock’s entry, other Wall Street giants joined the race, initiating a battle against the SEC that many hope to win in January.

Grayscale and VanEck submit Form 8-A

On January 4, Grayscale and VanEck separately filed their Form 8-A, aiming to register their shares as securities with the intention of trading on the Cboe BZX Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange Arca, respectively. However, similar to Fidelity’s case, Form 8-A doesn’t guarantee SEC approval, though it suggests they are one step closer to regulatory approval.

As ZyCrypto reported, enthusiasm for Bitcoin ETFs is palpable in the market. In December 2023, the cryptocurrency market experienced a historic surge in spot trading volume, surpassing the trillion-dollar mark for the first time in over a year.

This increase aligned with the growing anticipation of the potential approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, underscoring the significance of regulatory decisions in the crypto industry. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $43,538, having experienced a nearly 10% pullback on Tuesday following an adverse report from Matrixport titled: “Why the SEC Will Again Reject Bitcoin Spot ETFs.”