Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, made moves in the market, selling around two million Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares on Wednesday. This came as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nears its final decision on Ark’s proposed bitcoin ETF in mid-January.
In hopes of launching their own bitcoin ETF, Ark, a contender in the field, swapped their GBTC holdings for approximately $92 million worth of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) shares. The Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) followed suit, ditching GBTC shares and acquiring BITO in anticipation of a potential green light for a brand-new bitcoin ETF.
Wood explained on Bloomberg TV that this move was prompted by the perception that an already sanctioned ETF, like BITO, offers more stability than one still in the conversion process. “There’s less uncertainty in terms of regulations surrounding [BITO], so we opted to stick with BITO for now,” she stated.
The Race for a Spot Bitcoin ETF With the SEC deadline set for January 10th to decide on Ark’s proposed bitcoin ETF, various ETF issuers are anticipating a collective approval for several applications if Ark’s proposal gets the go-ahead. While the SEC currently permits funds that track cryptocurrency futures, it hasn’t yet given the green light to ETFs directly holding bitcoin.
However, the SEC faced a significant setback in August when a U.S. appeals court ruled against them in a lawsuit brought by Grayscale. The court stated that the SEC was mistaken in blocking the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s conversion into an ETF. This compelled the SEC to collaborate with potential issuers to refine their proposals.
Wood mentioned on Bloomberg TV, “We’re uncertain about which applications will get approval and whether they’ve met the SEC’s criteria. We’re confident in ours, but we can’t speak for others, including GBTC.”
