SEC Set Deadline For S-1 Spot Bitcoin ETF Amendment Filing

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked EFT filers to submit the final amendment of their S-1 filing before December 29th. The spot Bitcoin ETF approval window is just about two weeks away and this update shows that the SEC may be working towards ensuring that a decision is announced on the said date.

First Wave Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval Underway

According to the agency, this is a requirement for any of the spot Bitcoin ETF applicants if they plan to be among the first wave of potential approval. This suggests that there will likely be several batches of approvals.

Fox Business’ Eleanor Terrett shared the news on the X app. In Terrett’s post, she clearly stated that the U.S. SEC does not plan to consider any applicant that is not “fully furnished” by the stipulated deadline.

ETF Filers Submits Amended S-1 Filings 

In the last few weeks, there have been quite a number of amended S-1 filings returning to the table of the SEC. Grayscale resubmitted its updated spot Bitcoin ETF filing in the last week of November. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart pointed out that in the Grayscale filing, a line related to cash as well as some pages of risk disclosures had been removed.

BlackRock and Bitwise also updated their S-1 filings right after it was rumoured that the SEC was meeting with Bitcoin ETF applicants. Even Fidelity and Hashdex have adjusted their applications in line with the concerns and feedback raised by the SEC during their conversations. 

SEC Discuss Technical Details With ETF Filers

These meetings with the agency have become more intense recently with their discussions centered on a number of technical details including the potential redemption model for the ETF, custody arrangements, and investor risk disclosures. About two days ago, theCoinrise reported that the SEC had a couple of conference calls with ETF filers. 

During these calls which Charles Gasparino described as a “rare joint conference call”, the regulator made an effort to convince the applicants to modify their filings to accommodate the “cash create” creation and redemption model for their proposed ETF. In the latest update, it has also been stated that “the filings cannot mention in-kind creation or they will be rejected.”