Bitwise has added new material to its application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the company's CIO Matt Hougan said on Sept. 25.
Hougan suggested that if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ultimately does not approve a spot Bitcoin ETF following recent developments, applicants will need to prove their filings are satisfactory in certain regards.
If the SEC does not approve an ETF, why will it not be necessary to approve an ETF?
Hougan countered that existing spot-bitcoin ETF filings do not include substantial new arguments or research. Although several applications have been updated to include a surveillance-sharing agreement with Coinbase, Hougan said that these additions might not meet regulatory requirements even if they are a positive step forward.
According to Hougan, Bitwise's updated filing addresses past issues by providing more than 40 pages of new research and arguments. Although complex, Bitwise's updated filing addresses disagreements and disapproval orders from the SEC, including matters related to price discovery and market manipulation.
Hougan acknowledges Grayscale's attempts to convert its GBTC fund to an ETF. Hougan said that Grayscale's recent legal triumph has led other asset management firms to hope that the SEC will approve spot Bitcoin ETFs more widely, but he admitted that the SEC could file an objection to Grayscale's victory.
Bitwise's ETF filing directly refers to Grayscale, in one section that concerns how GBTC inflows are related to spot and futures Bitcoin prices. Bitwise maintains that differences between spot and futures prices do not render correlation analysis immaterial, and it cites comments from Grayscale's court case in its argument.
Bitwise is among several firms aiming to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. Many of those firms filed applications after BlackRock submitted its own filing in June 2023.