Gary Gensler Hints at Possible Shift in SEC Position on Bitcoin ETFs After Grayscale Wins in Court
In an interview with Bloomberg on December 14, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), avoided answering questions about the number of deposits of Bitcoin spot products. Instead, he emphasized the importance of recent changes in the U.S. Treasury market to his agency.
In response to this interview, US Congressman Bryan Steil commented that Gensler was confused on the crypto issue with the press, just like during the committee hearings. James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, also said Gensler rarely gave clear answers and kept his comments secret.
Gensler hinted that the SEC might soften its stance on Bitcoin ETFs following Grayscale's court victory, but he did not clearly admit this. Interviewed on CNBC on December 14, he discussed the long list of spot Bitcoin ETFs awaiting approval. He said the SEC was currently processing between eight and a dozen cases, noting that some had been denied in the past but the courts had issued rulings on them.
When asked if this referred to Grayscale, Gensler evaded the question by stating that all SEC actions were consistent with laws passed by Congress and court interpretation.
In August, a federal judge overturned the SEC's decision to deny Grayscale Investments' ETF offering through its Bitcoin Trust fund.
Several large asset managers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Invesco, VanEck and Valkyrie, are in the running to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. Although the applications have been delayed, analysts believe a number of them will be approved by early January.
