The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed the deadline for asset manager VanEck’s decision to apply to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the first cryptocurrency.

Initially, the regulator was supposed to complete its review on August 27. According to the document, the new date is October 11. The SEC noted that they did not receive public comments on the application from the company.

“The Commission considers it appropriate to set a longer period to act on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider it. […] problems came up, ”says the order.

On June 24, VanEck submitted documents to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. The previous application was rejected by the SEC in November 2021.

After the firm authorized its bitcoin futures ETF, it felt that a positive regulator’s decision would make sense. A similar tool from VanEck received approval in October 2021. It was third in a row after ProShares and Valkyrie Investments products listed in the US.

In October 2021, Grayscale Investments applied to convert a digital gold-backed trust into a spot bitcoin ETF.

On December 17, the SEC delayed making a decision on the application and took that step again in February 2022. On June 30, Grayscale sued the regulator after its application was ultimately rejected.

The company had previously pointed out that the SEC’s willingness to approve futures-based bitcoin ETFs while rejecting orders based on the spot variant could violate the Administrative Procedure Act.

Grayscale’s head of legal department, Craig Salm, estimates that the case against the Commission could take one to two years. The company considers the regulator’s decision to be “unfair discrimination”.

Recall that Wall Street Journal editors accused SEC chairman Gary Gensler of a “confusing” approach to spot bitcoin ETF adoption.

Previously, analysts at Bloomberg had predicted that the regulator would approve such vehicles by mid-2023. According to Eric Balciunas’ calculations, 95% of those who commented on Grayscale’s implementation supported the launch of the tool.

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