The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States issued a memo that allows for the public to comment on the rule change proposed around the BTC Exchange-traded fund from VanEck, an asset manager.
Based on a filing from the SEC on Wednesday, the agency has not reached a concrete decision on whether they would approve or disapprove the Bitcoin ETF application submitted by VanEck but instead reached out to individuals to pass their comments on the ruling proposal. The regulatory body asked specifically if the public thinks Bitcoin ETF would be an avenue for manipulations and illicit practices and acts.
In the request, the SEC also requested that the public should “weigh the sustainability of BTC as a basic asset for an exchange-traded product” and the transparency and liquidity of the Bitcoin market. The rules existing requires that the public interest and investors should be protected by the national securities exchanges.
The window for commenting on the proposal will be open for 21 days for anyone whatsoever after the request is published in the Federal Register and about 35 days after the same is published in the same register for rebuttals. The public can also send their comments via email, SEC website, or snail mail.
VanEck submitted their paperwork for the application of a BTC Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) to the Securities and Exchange Commission in March after the asset manager withdraw an application made earlier in conjunction with SolidX, a blockchain startup in January.
The commission has the right to increase the deadline in 45-, 60-, 90-day increments up to about 240 days before announcing their final decision. Under section 19(b)(2)(B) of the SEC Acts of 1934, however, the commission also has the power to choose whether they will accept the rule change proposed or not before any of the deadline stated as the case is in the request for comments from the public.
Currently, no Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) has been approved by the commission in the U.S., looking at the lingering delays on the ETF application of VanEck, Fidelity Investments, and Valkyrie Digital Assets from the SEC, many others are not expecting their application to be approved soon. At the same time, the officials in Canada have given a positive expectation for numerous ETFs this year, including the application from 3iQ, Evolve Funds Group and others.
