After the approval of the first Bitcoin ETF in October, hopes in the crypto space were high. However, the latest decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against VanEck’s Spot ETF does not surprise everyone. Which ETF applications are still pending?
More surprising for some, less surprising for others: the proposal of the VanEcks Spot ETF was approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC on November 12th declined. There are currently a number of applications in the pipeline waiting for an SEC decision.
After the US Securities and Exchange Commission postponed the decision-making on VanEck’s application several times, the tiresome wait came to an end. The commission came to the conclusion that the application did not comply with the US Stock Exchange Act. In its decision, the SEC specifies that the application did not comply with the rules set out in the Stock Exchange Act “to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” and “to protect investors and the public interest”.
Jan VanEck, CEO of the investment manager, announced his disappointment on Twitter:
Although from the expert’s point of view it was to be expected that the application would not be accepted, the crypto space had high hopes for future applications after the first Bitcoin ETF premiere in October of this year.
Direct and indirect ETFs
However, not all ETFs are created equal. Between the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which was recently approved, and the declined VanEck Spot ETF, there are key differences. The ProShares product is a futures-based ETF (futures contract). You invest in a derivative that does not create its index directly after the base value – in our case Bitcoin. This means that the Bitcoin rate is not replicated 1: 1 here. For this reason we speak of one here indirect Investment. The VanEck product, however, represents one direct, or SpotETF. This means that the exchange fund is linked directly to the Bitcoin price with only one underlying asset. This type of ETF would also be illegal in Europe, for example.
In the above slideshow we have made the decisions that are still outstanding Arcane Research on the part of the SEC took a closer look.