In a landmark ruling on August 29, 2023, the USA Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated an order from the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC), granting Grayscale Investments LLC a long-awaited victory in its lawsuit over the conversion of its Bitcoin Belief right into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The SEC rejected Grayscale’s preliminary utility to transform the Grayscale Bitcoin Belief to a spot Bitcoin ETF on June 29, 2022. Grayscale argued that the SEC acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in rejecting spot Bitcoin ETF purposes, particularly contemplating it had authorized Bitcoin futures ETFs. Grayscale claimed that the SEC violated the Securities Trade Act with its “unfair discrimination” towards spot Bitcoin ETF issuers.
Bitcoin (BTC) skilled a 6% p.c bump on the information earlier than retracting barely to round 5%.
Broader implications
The ruling will not be solely a major victory for Grayscale but in addition holds profound implications for the backdrop of future spot Bitcoin ETF purposes. As beforehand reported by CryptoSlate, the court docket’s determination on the lawsuit may dictate the destiny of the string of spot Bitcoin ETF purposes filed earlier this yr.
Grayscale’s argument centered across the SEC’s disparate remedy of spot and futures Bitcoin ETFs, regardless of each posing comparable dangers and being priced based mostly on the identical underlying spot markets. In distinction, the SEC contended that spot Bitcoin ETFs are extra vulnerable to manipulation and fraud as a result of the underlying spot market stays unregulated. The SEC additional argued that the regulated Chicago Mercantile Trade, the place Bitcoin futures ETFs commerce, has enough safeguards towards fraud and manipulation.
Responding to the court docket ruling, Grayscale CEO, Michael Sonnenshein, expressed gratitude to the agency’s buyers for his or her assist and encouragement by way of a tweet. He additionally indicated that Grayscale’s authorized group is actively reviewing the Courtroom’s opinion.
The court docket’s determination, whatever the end result, was essential for all these trying to situation spot Bitcoin ETFs within the U.S. Had Grayscale misplaced, the agency may have referred to as for an “en banc” listening to, the place all judges of the D.C. Circuit would weigh in on the case. Alternatively, they might have appealed the choice within the Supreme Courtroom. Now, with this ruling in Grayscale’s favor, the agency sees a major win, and the long run for spot Bitcoin ETF issuers within the U.S. could have simply brightened.
