The US Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by denying Grayscale Investment’s request to transform its Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). This is a major victory for the crypto industry, and markets have reacted positively to the ruling. The SEC is now nearing its deadline on seven Bitcoin ETF applications, with Bitwise expecting a decision on September 1 and BlackRock, VanEck, Fidelity, Invesco, and WisdomTree all looking forward to the SEC’s decision on their respective fund applications on September 2nd. Valkyrie is expected to receive a response on September 4th. The SEC has been instructed by the US Court of Appeals to review its decision on Grayscale Investment’s request to transform GBTC into a Bitcoin ETF. The victory is no less than a milestone, and markets have also reacted positively to the ruling.The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has spent a decade denying spot Bitcoin ETF proposals under the reasoning that it is “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” But this era has now come to an end, according to prominent lawyer and Variant Fund advisor Jake Chervinsky. He said that the ruling is very rare for a federal circuit court to find that an agency has violated the APA by acting “arbitrarily and capriciously.”A much-anticipated spot Bitcoin ETF hasn’t launched yet. The court has not ordered the SEC to approve Grayscale’s ETF proposal. Chervinsky explained that the ruling only determined that the SEC’s analysis of the “fraud and manipulation” issue was wrong. A possible scenario is that the SEC might find an alternative justification to reject Grayscale’s proposal, leading to further extended and expensive legal battles. The political pressure on the SEC to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs also begs attention. Several firms have filed spot Bitcoin ETFs for listing on Nasdaq or CBOE Global Markets this year, including BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.Industry observers believe the latest ruling has left the SEC with “very little wiggle room” and Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart have upped the odds of a potential spot Bitcoin ETF’s launch to 75% by this year and 95% by the end of 2024.Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff warned that Grayscale converting its GBTC to a spot Bitcoin ETF if approved, could be bearish for the cryptocurrency. Founder of BlackTower Capital, Ari Paul, responded to Schiff’s comment suggesting that while there might be some selling pressure from the GBTC unlocking process, the net impact on the Bitcoin market could be minimal due to the excessive fees currently paid by GBTC investors.The introduction of a Bitcoin ETF could bring in more significant positive effects by attracting new investors into the market. It is believed that the SEC will eventually approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, and the only question is if the SEC wants to make this more painful for itself.

This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)

Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries
Sentiment	neutral
Relevance Score	9
People	Jake Chervinsky, Larry Fink, Eric Balchunas, James Seyffart, Peter Schiff
Companies	CBOE Global Markets, Binance, PrimeXBT, BlackRock, Invesco, VanEck, SEC, Bitwise, Grayscale Investment, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Variant Fund, Nasdaq, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Valkyrie, US Court of Appeals
Currencies	Ethereum, US Dollar, Bitcoin, goBTC, Sector
Securities	None