VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF Close to Gaining SEC Approval, Exec Says

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The Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposed by money management group VanEck and crypto startup SolidX is close to obtaining a regulatory nod from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to Gabor Gurbacs, VanEck head of digital asset strategies.

“We are the closest that we can be. It is very clear to me that America wants a bitcoin ETF and we are here to build it. We are waiting for regulatory feedback and we are hoping that we get the thumbs up,” Gurbacs told Fox Business on Wednesday.

He added that the proposed VanEck-SolidX ETF is insured and physically backed by Bitcoin, priced by VanEck’s regulated subsidiary pricing source, MVIS, and meets “every requirement that commodity type of fund would need.”

SolidX filed for a Bitcoin ETF to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in March 2016, but its application was rejected by the SEC in March 2017. In June this year, VanEck joined SolidX in the effort, proposing that the fund be listed on the Bats BZX Exchange, which is owned by the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE). The SEC is yet to rule on this application, announcing in August it needed to collect more data on public opinion before passing judgment on such an instrument.

Late last month, the regulator published a memorandum from its meeting with SolidX, VanEck, and CBOE representatives. According to the document, the parties discussed the reason the SEC rejected SolidX’s previous ETF application, namely “a perceived failure to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act,” which focuses on the prevention of “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

Fraud and market manipulation concerns have stood in the way of nine other crypto ETF projects. In August, the SEC rejected the proposals of ProShares, Direxion Asset Management, and GraniteShares. In October, the public was invited to comment on the nine applications, either in favor or against.

With 2018 drawing to a close, market observers are pointing to 2019 as the earliest a US crypto ETF can come to life. Many doubt the products will get a regulatory go-ahead, and some insist it will take a physically-backed fund, such as the VanEck-SolidX one, to obtain approval.

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