U.S. SEC To Give Decision on CBOE-VanECk Bitcoin ETF in April

The U.S. SEC has expressed willingness to give its verdict on the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) come April 5, after the ETF sponsors filed a fresh proposal.

The SEC confirmed this via a notice that would be formally registered in the Federal Register today Feb 20.

The formal entry into the register would trigger the countdown for the 45 days for approval, rejection or a subsequent extension.

“Within 45 days of the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register or within such longer period up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may designate if it finds such longer period to be appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which the Exchange consents,” the SEC states in the notice.

Moving further, the notice, as usual, revealed that starting from February 20 to March 13, the SEC will entertain public comments about the proposal before conducting a final review for the next three weeks until April 5.

Two Bitcoin ETF Proposals Now Pending

Understandably, the VanEck/CBOE Bitcoin is only the latest in what could be described as a back-and-forth movement between the SEC and the ETF sponsor in recent times.

It can be recalled that the VanEck/SolidX proposal was initially filed around last year, but was later withdrawn after several rejections before the U.S. government shutdown in January. The application, however, was then re-filed at the end of January, leading up the SEC’s latest listing of the proposal in the Federal Register today.

The development means that the SEC now has two Bitcoin ETF calls to make in the coming months – the current one by VanEck/CBOE and another by Bitwise Asset Management and NYSE Arca which was officially published in the Federal Register on Feb 15.

Crypto enthusiasts are hopeful that the SEC would approve the proposal within the stipulated time, which could bring about a significant boost in the value of Bitcoin which has shown positive signs of recovery since the beginning of this week.

SEC official Robert J Jackson Jr suggested earlier this month that a Bitcoin ETF is on the way and this could just be the moment.