Grayscale Initiates A Lawsuit Against the U.S. SEC Over Spot Bitcoin ETF Issues

On Wednesday, June 29, the U.S. SEC rejected the Grayscale application for converting its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) vehicle to a spot Bitcoin.

The world’s largest digital asset manager Grayscale has finally decided to drag the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the court. “We’ve filed a lawsuit against the SEC,” said SEC chief Michael Sonnenshein.

Attorneys representing Grayscale Investments have filed a petition at the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the SEC’s decision to deny the conversion of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Grayscale had filed its application of converting its GBTC product to a spot Bitcoin ETF last year in November 2021. The final tenure of 240 days for the review consideration is ending this July 2022. Commenting on the latest denial, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnehshein noted:

“Grayscale supports and believes in the SEC’s mandate to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation — and we are deeply disappointed by and vehemently disagree with the SEC’s decision to continue to deny spot Bitcoin ETFs from coming to the U.S. market.

Through the ETF application review process, we believe American investors overwhelmingly voiced a desire to see GBTC convert to a spot Bitcoin ETF, which would unlock billions of dollars of investor capital while bringing the world’s largest Bitcoin fund further into the U.S. regulatory perimeter. We will continue to leverage the full resources of the firm to advocate for our investors and the equitable regulatory treatment of Bitcoin investment vehicles.”

Will A Spot Bitcoin ETF Come This Year?

Looking at the SEC’s past track record of rejecting several big applications, the securities regulator is in no mood for having this investment product in the market. Furthermore, the SEC is likely to tighten its grip in the crypto regulatory sector after major insolvencies and liquidity issues in the market.

However, Grayscale isn’t willing to give up this matter so easily. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Grayscale Senior Legal Strategist accused the SEC of failing to apply “consistent treatment to similar investment vehicles”. Verilli further added that they are looking to resolve this matter “productively and expeditiously”.