Bitcoin (BTC) is skyrocketing after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a slew of bids to create spot market BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The highly anticipated move by the regulatory agency – which saw it approve the applications of several marquee firms such as BlackRock (IBIT), Fidelity (FBTC), Invesco (BTCO), ARK Invest (ARKB), Franklin Templeton (EZBC), and VanEck (HODL) – caused the crypto king to temporarily shoot up to a 21-month high of $49,054.
The top crypto asset by market cap has since retraced and is trading for $46,300 at time of writing, a 1.8% increase during the last 24 hours.
In a recent statement on the matter, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says that while the regulatory body may have approved spot market Bitcoin ETFs, it should not be taken as a signal that the SEC is ready to greenlight similar products for other digital assets.
“Importantly, today’s Commission action is cabined to ETPs holding one non-security commodity, bitcoin. It should in no way signal the Commission’s willingness to approve listing standards for crypto asset securities.
Nor does the approval signal anything about the Commission’s views as to the status of other crypto assets under the federal securities laws or about the current state of non-compliance of certain crypto asset market participants with the federal securities laws.
As I’ve said in the past, and without prejudging any one crypto asset, the vast majority of crypto assets are investment contracts and thus subject to the federal securities laws.”
The SEC’s decision comes months after it lost a lawsuit against crypto asset manager Grayscale. In that case, a judge ruled that since the SEC had previously approved futures BTC ETFs, it must reconsider Grayscale’s application to create a spot market BTC ETF to remain consistent and avoid arbitrariness.
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