SEC Pumps Brakes on ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on the high-profile spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund application from ARK 21Shares.

In a Friday filing, Wall Street’s top regulator said it needed more time before approving or scrapping the application.

ARK Invest, the investment firm led by Cathie Wood, first filed its application for the Ark21Shares ETF in June 2021.

The firm has partnered with Swiss-based ETF provider 21Shares AG to offer its product. If it’s approved, shares would trade on Cboe’s BZX Exchange under the ticker symbol ARKB.

An ETF is a type of investment vehicle that tracks the underlying price of an asset. It allows investors to buy shares of gold, foreign currencies or crypto—instead of owning the product themselves.

A spot Bitcoin ETF is a hot topic right now as one does not yet exist in the States but investors are seemingly hungry for one.

The SEC has been reluctant to approve such a product because—among other things—it claims that the price of Bitcoin can be manipulated.

Investors want access to such a spot Bitcoin ETF because it would allow them to get involved with Bitcoin without having to deal with the custody of the asset, according to experts.

The SEC is currently reviewing a number of high-profile Bitcoin ETF applications. Analysts say that this time, it is likely the strongly crypto-suspicious regulator could say yes to one.

This is because prestigious firms such as BlackRock—the world’s biggest asset manager—have applied to release such a product.

BlackRock—which manages $9.5 trillion in assets—applied to the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF back in June, causing the asset to jump to a 12-month high.

Other investment firms hoping to get the green light include VanEck, Fidelity, and Valkyrie Investments.