SEC Postpones Decision on Bitcoin ETF Listing to September

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has postponed a decision on whether to allow the listing of an exchange-traded fund backed by Bitcoin.

The agency now has until Sept. 30 to “approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove” a proposed rule change from Cboe Global Markets Inc. that would allow the fund from VanEck Associates Corp. and SolidX Partners Inc. to list, the SEC said in a statement. An initial deadline was due to expire next week.

The SEC’s delay is another blow to crypto-currency enthusiasts after the regulator denied an exchange’s request to list a similar fund run by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss late last month. Some had argued that VanEck’s proposal was more likely to gain approval thanks to plans for a high minimum share price that would discourage retail investors, and insurance. The Commission had received more than 1,300 comments on the proposed rule change as of Aug. 6, it said.

Bitcoin fell 0.3 percent as of 4:49 p.m. in New York, after earlier rallying as much as 3.3 percent.

The fund could still receive approval by the end of September, or the SEC could elect to push out its decision by another 240 days. That’s been the fate of at least three other rule-change requests that have been pending since January.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Evans in New York at revans43@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Brendan Walsh

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