Friday morning, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) solicited comments on 21 Shares and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application, further delaying the process.

This is the second delay in the listing process for this ETF, with the first delay happening earlier this year. The third deadline for the SEC’s decision is scheduled for later this year for November 11. If the SEC delays the application again, it will go to its fourth and final deadline on January 10, 2024. 

The race for approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States gained huge momentum earlier this year when the worlds largest asset manager, BlackRock, filed for one of their own. After that, big institutions including Fidelity, VanEck and WisdomTree among others, piled in and filed for their own spot Bitcoin ETFs.  

The first mover advantage of being the first to have its Bitcoin ETF approved and listed may prove to be vital in its performance. Galaxy Digital CEO and billionaire Mike Novogratz said in an earnings call earlier this week, “The news of both BlackRock filing ETF and quite frankly, Invesco plus Galaxy, we’re going to fight like cats and dogs to win market share there once it gets approved. It’s a big, big deal.”

Earlier this year on July 27, the SEC approved a leveraged, 2x Bitcoin futures ETF, which leaves many scratching their heads as to how that is safe for investors, but not a spot ETF. Grayscale, who is currently in a legal battle with the SEC over the denial of its spot Bitcoin ETF application, sent a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals protesting exactly this. 

More information on the spot Bitcoin ETF race can be found here.