Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said the company is preparing for litigation if Grayscale’s Bitcoin Spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is rejected by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Sonnenshein was asked if he would consider the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) option to sue if the application for his Bitcoin Spot ETF were denied by the financial regulator.
“I think all options are on the table,” he replied, emphasizing the importance of continuing to advocate for investors. The next decision date for approval or rejection of the investment product is July 6, 2022. It was previously postponed in February and originally filed in October 2021.
“The Grayscale team used all of our firm’s resources to convert GBTC, our flagship fund, into an ETF. It’s really important that investors know we’ve stood up for them and will continue to stand up for them.”
Grayscale announced in October 2021 that it plans to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF. The SEC delayed a decision approving the product in December 2021, saying it needed a longer period to consider the proposed changes, and repeated that action in February.
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The SEC opened Grayscale’s proposed changes to public feedback. Feedback received from the regulator showed that 95% of respondents supported the switch, according to an analysis conducted in February. Grayscale dedicated part of its website to inviting investors to file comments with the SEC.
“GBTC is now owned by investors in all 50 states, and in fact there are now over 800,000 accounts in the US, all patiently waiting for it to convert to an ETF,” Sonnenshein said.
“It was really a very exciting announcement that we now have bitcoin futures ETFs on the market, but unfortunately it has forced investors into these bitcoin futures products because they’re the only ones out there.”
Sonnenshein added that Grayscale has been emboldened by the SEC’s support for the crypto exchange with the regulator, as well as President Biden’s recent executive order on crypto.
“Ultimately, we believe it matters when a spot bitcoin ETF is approved, not if.”