How many times and when in the past, SEC rejected bitcoin ETFs?
According to the research, the SEC has rejected 33 applications for a spot bitcoin ETF as of June 2023.
Here is a brief timeline of the major Bitcoin ETF proposals and their outcomes:
July 2013: The first ever attempt at a Bitcoin ETF came from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who proposed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. The SEC officially rejected the proposal in March 2017.
July 2017: Grayscale officially filed an application for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX:GBTC) in July 2017. Three months later, Grayscale withdrew its application to the SEC and chose to list its fund on the OTC market. To this day, the GBTC fund is the largest and most popular Bitcoin fund, but it’s still not listed on a major U.S. exchange.
September 2017: ETF specialist ProShares applied for two Bitcoin ETFs. Both proposals were rejected by the SEC along with seven other proposed Bitcoin ETFs in August 2018.
December 2017: Both Direxion and GraniteShares filed applications with the SEC for respective Bitcoin ETFs. Both were rejected in August 2018.
January 2019: Bitwise proposed the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust in January 2019. The SEC rejected its proposal about nine months later.
January 2019: Wilshire Phoenix proposed a unique approach to a Bitcoin fund with the United States Bitcoin and Treasury Investment Trust. Thh Proposal was rejected in February 2020.
February 2019: Realty Shares ETF Trusts proposed a Bitcoin fund. The SEC forced the company to withdraw its proposal just two days later.
June 2020: WisdomTree submitted an application for a commodity fund that would invest up to 5% of its assets in Bitcoin futures.
June 2023: BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, filed an application for a spot bitcoin ETF, hoping to succeed where dozens failed.
The last bitcoin ETF spot requests were made by several firms in June 2023, hoping to launch a spot bitcoin ETF in early 2024.
The SEC has not yet made a decision on this proposal & expected a decision before 10th Jan, 24.
