VanEck CEO says its spot bitcoin ETF should trade on Thursday: CNBC

Policy • January 9, 2024, 10:08AM EST
Published 1 minute earlier on
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Quick Take

  • Firms are vying for a spot bitcoin ETF as fresh forms have been rapidly filed.
  • Both Valkyrie and VanEck are expecting the SEC to make a decision on Wednesday. 

VanEck's CEO said his firm's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund should begin trading on Thursday, echoing other firms that expect the Securities and Exchange Commission to greenlight those products in the coming day.

"You believe it's going to start trading Thursday," the CNBC host asked during a segment on Tuesday morning.

"Yeah," said CEO Jan van Eck. 

Asset managers have been vying for a spot bitcoin ETF for months, and updated forms have been rapidly filed as they get closer to potentially obtaining approval from the SEC for what would be the first spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. 

Valkyrie Investments is also anticipating a decision soon, telling The Block that they expect the SEC will deem ETFs effective at the end of the business day on Wednesday with trading to begin on Thursday morning. 

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Amended filings

Also Tuesday morning, VanEck along with other ETF issuers, filed amended S-1 forms to address final comments from the SEC. The forms had minor changes, including language on if an authorized participant or bitcoin trading counterparty suffers insolvency. 

The next steps would be for the SEC to approve 19b-4 forms for each fund and then the S-1 forms, or registration statements, would need to become effective. Those could happen one after the other. 

Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on X on Tuesday morning that the 24-hour turnaround time between the filing, comments and re-filings show that all parties involved are "aiming to get this show on [the] road pronto."


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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.

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