Decision on a Bitcoin ETF delayed to August 19th

SEC has asked for more comments on the proposed rule change

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again delayed a decision on a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal.

In a new document filed Monday, the SEC explains that they are instituting proceedings on whether to approve or disapprove a proposed rule change that would allow the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust to issue and list its shares.

VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF proposal was published in the Federal Register back on February 20th, giving the SEC a legal timeframe of 90 days to make a further decision.

New Deadline is August 19

Defense Counsel in U.S. government and “crypto’s favorite lawyer” Jake Chervinsky tweeted:

“As expected, the SEC has delayed the VanEck bitcoin ETF proposal. VanEck’s new deadline is August 19. The SEC can & likely will delay one more time for a final deadline of October 18.”

Looks like this ended up the right explanation:

15/ To be fair, the fact that the SEC delayed Bitwise & stayed silent on VanEck could mean nothing at all. Maybe SEC staff just hasn't had time to finish the VanEck delay order yet. These things take time & there's no reason why the SEC has to issue ETF delays at once. — Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 19, 2019

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dealt a blow to the cryptocurrency space amid the tumultuous price action. A document revealed that the financial regulator delayed its verdict on a Bitcoin ETF application from Bitwise Asset Management, exercising its right to extend a self-imposed deadline by an additional 45 days.

Although this was expected, it was strange that the regulator didn’t comment a similar proposal from VanEck and SolidX, which was on the chopping block alongside Bitwise’s application. This has led to a flurry of rumors about the potential approval of the product, which has been an important subject in 2019. Because why would the SEC delay its verdict on Bitwise’s vehicle, but not comment on a seemingly similar product simultaneously?

0/ This is no time for ETF hopium. If the SEC doesn't delay the VanEck bitcoin ETF proposal, the most likely result is rejection, not approval. The SEC delayed Bitwise last week, but still hasn't made a decision on VanEck. Here's why that's a bad sign for ETF bulls. Thread 👇 — Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 19, 2019

There Is Still Place For Optimism

However, most analysts agree this was expected. The truth is, Bitcoin and crypto markets are overdue a serious pullback. The minor dip that occurred at the end of last week did not last long and by Sunday Bitcoin was already surging back towards $8,000. Crypto trader and investor Josh Rager remains confident saying:

“‏Expected outcome is delay with likely minor impact on price (slight pullback to support which is bought up). Even with delay $BTC could continue to push up in the coming weeks to new yearly high.”

SEC invited comments from the public, due 21 days from when the order is published in the Federal Register, and rebuttals to those comments, due 35 days after such publication.

Director of digital assets strategy at VanEck/MVIS, Gabor Gurbacs, responded to the latest delay on Twitter, claiming that the company will not give up and adding: