Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein took to X (Twitter) Monday morning to say “it’s been a ten year dress rehearsal. we’re ready for the main event,” ahead of seemingly imminent approval for the conversion of its flagship fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
On June 29, 2022, Grayscale filed a lawsuit against the SEC for denying its spot Bitcoin ETF conversion. Since then, Grayscale won its lawsuit against the SEC, with the regulator then deciding not to appeal the court decision after. Ten days later, the US Court of Appeals issued a mandate that the SEC must re-review Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF application.
Approval of a spot ETF by the SEC appears almost certain, with Grayscale’s chief legal officer recently saying that a spot Bitcoin ETF approval is “a matter of when, not a matter of if anymore.” JPMorgan also commented back in September, saying that the SEC will likely be forced to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs, following Grayscale’s victory in court.
Last week, it was highlighted by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart that a brief window of opportunity for the SEC to approve all 12 spot Bitcoin ETF filings, including Grayscale’s GBTC conversion. This window opened up last Thursday and will remain open for at least eight days, with this being the last chance of approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US in 2023.
While it’s possible the batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs get approved this week, it is seemingly unlikely. “If we are indeed going to see Bitcoin ETF approvals for this wave, I think it’s more likely to happen closer to January than this current window,” said Seyffart.
Bitcoin is up 122% year to date, at the time of writing, on the speculation of the first spot ETF approval in the United States, in addition to the upcoming halving in 2024.