Reps. Nickel and Flood Advocate for SEC Approval of Options on Spot Bitcoin ETFs
US Representatives Mike Flood and Wiley Nickel are pressing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve options trading on spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs), urging SEC Chair Gary Gensler to address the delay.
Flood and Nickel emphasize the importance of explaining the perceived difference in treatment between options for Bitcoin futures ETFs, which are already trading, and options for spot Bitcoin ETPs.
The two lawmakers referenced the SEC’s January approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, highlighting the billions of dollars these products have attracted since their introduction.
“We urge you, without delay, to approve options on spot Bitcoin ETPs or to provide an explanation for the Commission’s difference in treatment between options for Bitcoin futures ETFs—which are currently trading—and options for spot Bitcoin ETPs,” write Flood and Nickel, a Republican and Democrat, respectively.
The delay in approving options on spot bitcoin ETFs has raised concerns among lawmakers, particularly in light of previous court rulings that questioned the SEC’s rationale for treating similar products differently.
Flood and Nickel stress the necessity of options trading for the investors the SEC aims to protect.
The eventual approval of spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year was pushed in part by a ruling over the summer by three judges in a D.C. court that decided that the SEC had to re-review Grayscale’s bid for a spot bitcoin ETF after the asset management firm sued the agency last year following the rejection of its plan to convert its flagship GBTC fund.
“It has been almost two months since NYSE applied for the listing of options on spot Bitcoin ETFs; in the case of Bitcoin Futures ETFs, the SEC
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