Major Bitcoin ETF Legal Battle Begins as Grayscale Sues SEC

cryptonews.com:

One of the biggest bitcoin (BTC) and crypto investment companies, US-based Grayscale Investments, sued US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after it rejected its application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the world's largest BTC fund, to a spot exchange-trading fund (ETF).

"It is the SEC’s arbitrary and capricious actions and discriminatory treatment of issuers that necessitates elevating this matter to the courts in the best interest of GBTC and our investors," the company said. According to them, the market watchdog is failing to apply consistent treatment to BTC investment vehicles as evidenced by its denial of GBTC’s application for conversion to a spot ETF, but approval of several BTC futures ETFs.

"If regulators are comfortable with ETFs that hold derivatives of a given asset, they should logically be comfortable with ETFs that hold that same asset," they added.

Meanwhile, the SEC still claims that the GBTC conversion would not prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and would not protect investors and the public interest.The GBTC now holds USD 12.9bn worth of BTC. Per Grayscale, as of June 29, GBTC shares traded at an approximately 30% discount to net asset value, representing around USD 8bn of unrealized shareholder value.

"We hold firm in our belief that converting GBTC to a spot Bitcoin ETF remains the best option for investors: it would effectively eliminate the discount and cause the shares to track the price of bitcoin," the firm said.At 03:49 UTC, BTC trades at USD 20,078 and is down 1% in a day and is almost unchanged in a week.

____Learn more: - Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Ready for ETF- Optimism Rises Towards Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF Application as Star Legal Counsel Joins