Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, has criticized the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a delayed response on a proposal to list options trading on the firm’s Bitcoin Spot ETF.
Notably, the Commission has continued to issue delayed responses to all recent digital asset-related ETF proposals/amendments despite a crypto-friendly policy of the Donald Trump Administration.
Following the resounding success of the US Bitcoin Spot ETFs, options trading became a potential mode of market expansion, with several asset managers submitting applications to offer options to their respective ETFs.
This was the first decision date, so it has not been rejected, just delayed, even though the SEC’s initial comments were addressed. It’s the lack of any feedback that is particularly irksome…
It is highly worth noting that delayed responses by the SEC have been quite a common response for digital assets ETF-related proposals. The Commission can choose to wait till the final decision deadline, i.e., 240 days after the application, as seen with the Bitcoin Spot ETFs in 2024. However, Sigel’s concerns stem from an absence of an explanation on this delayed ruling, especially considering that options trading has been approved for certain other Bitcoin Spot ETFs.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $108,349, reflecting gains of 5.23% and 17.71% in the past seven and 30 days, respectively.
