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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded products on Wednesday after years of rejecting ETF applications.
“Importantly, today’s Commission action is cabined to ETPs holding one non-security commodity, bitcoin (BTC-USD). It should in no way signal the Commission’s willingness to approve listing standards for crypto asset securities,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a statement.
The SEC is reviewing registration for 10 spot bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETPs simultaneously (in addition to the conversion of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an ETF), which is intended to help provide a level playing field for issuers and promote fairness and competition, he said. (Adde 4:50 PM ET.)
He added that the sponsors or the bitcoin ETPs will be required to provide full, fair and truthful disclosure about the products.
“While we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin ETP shares today, we did not approve or endorse bitcoin,” Gensler said. “Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto.”
The bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETFs that were approved are Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC), iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR), Ark 21Shares Bitcoin Trust (ARKB), Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust (BTCW), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), and Hashdex Bitcoin ETF (DEFI). (added 5:06 PM ET).
The SEC chair was also emphasized that the commission will “fully investigate any fraud or manipulation in the securities markets, including schemes that use social media platforms.”
Even with the approval, bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices are little changed over the past 24 hours, recently trading at ~$45.4K.
Updated at 4:46 PM ET: Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) stock dipped 2.5% in after-hours trading after the statement was made.
The announcement comes a day after the SEC said its account on social media platform was compromised, when a posting appeared falsely saying the SEC had approved bitcoin ETFs. That posting had initially sent bitcoin price as high as $47.8K, but the gain quickly evaporated.
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