BREAKING: US SEC Decides Not to Appeal A Recent Court Ruling Against Grayscale

On Friday, October 13, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that it won’t proceed with challenging the court ruling allowing Grayscale to convert its GBTC product to a spot Bitcoin ETF.

In August, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington made a pivotal decision, ruling that the SEC’s rejection of Grayscale’s proposed bitcoin ETF was unjust. This landmark case has been under intense industry scrutiny, as it reflects a decade-long endeavor by the crypto industry to introduce such products.

The SEC’s choice not to pursue an appeal appears to clear the path for the agency to reconsider Grayscale’s application, reported Reuters. Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst James Seyffart mentioned that discussions between Grayscale and the SEC are slated to commence next week, with a new SEC response expected within the next two weeks. He also stated that the US SEC is unlikely to appeal the court ruling in the Supreme Court.

1. Done deal I guess if this is accurate. No en banc application

2. No. I do not think they will appeal to the Supreme Court either.

3. Dialogue between Grayscale and SEC should begin next week. Hoping for more info on next steps sometime next week or week after? https://t.co/2EayzqeKGq

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) October 13, 2023

Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF Coming Soon?

Along with Grayscale, there have been several other players in the market who have applied to bring the spot Bitcoin ETF. This includes giants like BlackRock, Valkyrie, WisdomTree, Ark Invest, and others.

According to Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, the likelihood of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) gaining approval by January 2024 is estimated at 90%. They based this prediction on recent amendments to the spot Bitcoin ETF prospectus submitted by Ark Invest and 21Shares, which suggest constructive interactions with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a typical precursor to regulatory clearance.

I've gotten a lot of questions regarding my current view on Spot #Bitcoin ETFs over the last couple weeks. This is the first section of the note I put out yesterday with @EricBalchunas.

TLDR: Our view hasn't changed much https://t.co/dRAm5IsdQf pic.twitter.com/Htsi3n2XxV

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) October 13, 2023

Balchunas and Seyffart noted in a report that they “believe there’s a 90% chance of approval by Ark’s Jan. 10 deadline.” The ongoing dialogue between the SEC and fund sponsors is standard practice for new launches but represents a significant development for spot Bitcoin ETF applications, indicating the SEC’s efforts to facilitate Ark’s proposal. However, Grayscale had demanded that the SEC should approve all ETFs at once

Furthermore, Seyffart noted that ProShares is gearing up to launch the Short ETH Strategy ETF, set to begin trading on October 16, as the SEC expedites approvals for all Ethereum futures ETFs. Grayscale has also submitted an application for the Ethereum Futures ETF.