Cboe announced today that they have temporarily withdrawn their application to have the Van Eck SolidX Bitcoin ETF approved for listing on the Cboe BZX Exchange.

Cboe Withdraws Bitcoin ETF Rule Change Application… For Now

In a document filed on Wednesday, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Deputy Secretary Eduardo A. Aleman wrote that Cboe BZX Exchange had withdrawn a filing for a proposed rule change that, had the Bitcoin ETF been approved, would have permitted the platform to “list and trade shares of SolidX Bitcoin Shares issued by the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust under BZX Rule.”

While rumors of a withdrawal had been percolating within the crypto community, many were caught off guard by Van Eck’s director of digital asset strategy Gabor Gurbacs’s post on Twitter this afternoon:

The Bitcoin ETF filing has been temporarily withdrawn. We are actively working with regulators and major market participants to build appropriate market structure frameworks for a Bitcoin ETF and digital assets in general. Will keep you updated. pic.twitter.com/o9yiN47ZKe — Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) January 23, 2019

Speculation as to the reason behind the withdrawal has been running rampant, with many assuming that repeated delays on the SEC’s part led to the decision.

Speaking with CNBC’s ETF Edge earlier today, VanEck CEO Jan VanEck clarified:

You know the SEC is affected by the shutdown? So we were engaged in discussions with the SEC about the bitcoin-related issues – custody, market manipulation, prices – and that had to stop. And so, instead of trying to slip through or something, we just had the application pulled.

He went on to stress that the decision to withdraw the Bitcoin ETF application is only a temporary measure and that “we will re-file and re-engage in the discussions when the SEC gets going again.”

Underwhelming Market Response

Despite what some would call a setback for mainstream adoption, Cboe’s withdrawal of the ETF application seems to have had minimal impact on the price of Bitcoin.

Following the news, Bitcoin prices fell by less than $50 before beginning to regain lost ground. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at around $3,570.50.

Similarly, the cryptocurrency market as a whole was only slightly affected by the announcement. The total crypto market cap fell less than one percent – roughly $1.2 billion – before inching upward again.

The total crypto market cap sits right around $119.1 billion at the time of this writing.

What do you think about Cboe withdrawing the Van Eck SolidX Bitcoin ETF application? Does Bitcoin even need an ETF? Sound off in the comments below.

Images courtesy of CoinMarketCap, Bloomberg