Grayscale has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it no longer has any legal grounds to block the conversion of its flagship Bitcoin fund to an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). On September 5th, Grayscale’s legal team sent a letter to the SEC, requesting a meeting to discuss the next steps following a court ruling in favor of the conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Legal Perspective

“Now that the Court of Appeals has spoken, there is no available legal reasoning that would differentiate a Bitcoin futures ETF from a spot Bitcoin ETF based on the legal analysis previously adopted by the Commission in rejecting spot Bitcoin ETFs.” Grayscale also believes that the SEC should conclude that there are “no grounds” to treat GBTC differently from Bitcoin futures ETFs, which the Commission has previously approved.

Pending Application

Grayscale pointed out that its fund conversion application has been pending for nearly three times longer than the time stipulated by the SEC’s rules.

Joseph A. Hall, who also authored a letter in July urging the SEC to approve all pending ETF applications simultaneously, concluded his latest letter by stating: “We believe the Trust’s nearly one million investors deserve a level playing field as quickly as possible.”