- The court scheduled a date to hear oral arguments in Grayscale’s challenge of SEC’s Bitcoin ETF decision.
- Grayscale previously anticipated oral arguments to be as soon as Q2 2023.
According to CNBC, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals scheduled a date to hear oral arguments in Grayscale’s lawsuit contesting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision. The SEC decision is to deny the application of Grayscale to convert Grayscale Bitcoin trust (GBTC) to a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETH).
The Court order filed on January 23rd, 2023 states that Grayscale and SEC will present their case for the Court at 9.30 a.m. ET on March 7th, 2023.
In June 2022, Grayscale began its lawsuit against the SEC. As the agency rejected its application to turn Grayscale’s Bitcoin trust into an ETF. Thus the company decided to pursue the ETF which would be backed by Bitcoin derivatives after the security market regulator approved ProShares’ futures-based Bitcoin ETF in October 2021.
It must be noted that the ruling faced many delays but in the end the SEC rejected the application and cited the failure by Grayscale to answer questions related to concerns about market manipulation and investor protections.
However, since the bad market conditions in 2022 the investors seem quite far from their investment in the crypto market. The investors are longing to see the SEC approve a U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF. While many of them were concerned about the harm GBTC could do to shareholders. And many investors think that the SEC giving the green signal to Grayscale to convert the trust into an ETF would be the ideal path forward for investors.
GBTC Lawsuit
Grayscale says the SEC’s reluctance to further bring Bitcoin into the regulatory perimeter through a spot Bitcoin ETF has prevented U.S. investors from gaining the Bitcoin investment exposure that they both want and deserve.
As Grayscale noted, final briefs are due February 3rd, 2023. After which three judges will be selected from the pool of DC Circuit Judges, and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will share a schedule for the lawsuit’s oral arguments.
Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. will represent Grayscale during the oral arguments and answer any of the judges’ questions. Similarly, the SEC’s lawyers will have that opportunity. Grayscale expects the oral arguments will be recorded and later shared with the general public.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/25/gbtc-lawsuits-oral-arguments-scheduled-to-begin-in-march/