Bitwise Asset Management Gives Up On BTC ETF Application

Bitwise Asset management has decided to withdraw its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that we reported previously in our Bitcoin news.

The company requested the withdrawal in a filing that was posted with the SEC back on Tuesday while NYSE Arca- the sponsor of ETF has also given up on the associated 19b-4 filing for the fund. The news can disappoint people in the investment community that really want to see the first-ever Bitcoin ETF in the US but the news doesn’t come as a surprise. The proposal already got rejected by the SEC in October but the regulator said soon after that it was reviewing the rejection. The proposal didn’t meet the legal requirements to prevent manipulation on the market or other illicit activities:

“This is the next step towards our long term goal of bringing a bitcoin ETF to market, and we plan to refile our application at an appropriate time. We are currently working hard on answering the questions that the SEC raised in its 112-page response to our initial filing. We remain fully committed to the development of a bitcoin ETP, and will update you when we have more details on our timeline.”

Bitwise Asset Management leaves just one Bitcoin ETF proposal before the SEC although they initially wanted to re-file for approval of the ETF as per the recent crypto news:

“We deeply appreciate the SEC’s careful review. The detailed feedback they have provided in the Order provides critical context and a clear pathway for ETF applicants to continue moving forward on efforts to list a bitcoin ETF. […] We look forward to continuing to productively engage with the SEC to resolve their remaining concerns, and intend to re-file as soon as appropriate.”

An official announcement shared on November 18 shows that the commission said that the ETF filing from Bitwise Asset Management and NYSE Arca will return to review the proposal, following the earlier rejection which did not meet the necessary requirements. In October, the US regulators noted that the applicants did not meet the necessary requirements regarding possible market manipulation as well as illicit activities.