Odaily News - Craig Salm, Chief Legal Officer at Grayscale, released an open letter stating that the Grayscale legal team has submitted a comment letter to the 19b-4 application of GBTC and seven other spot Bitcoin ETF filings submitted by other companies, including the newly proposed Supervisory Sharing Agreement (SSA), aiming to explain why the SEC should approve all spot Bitcoin ETF applications.



Craig Salm wrote, "We remain encouraged by the momentum behind spot Bitcoin ETF applications. This not only highlights the continued maturity of the spot Bitcoin market but also reinforces our long-held belief that U.S. investors should be able to purchase spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States."



There are several key points worth noting in the comment letter. First, as clarified in the litigation, the SEC already has the capability to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs based on its previous approval of Bitcoin futures ETFs. The spot and futures markets for Bitcoin are intricately linked (third-party research indicates a correlation as high as 99%). This means that the regulatory oversight of the CME Bitcoin futures market should be sufficient to prevent potential fraud or manipulation in the underlying spot Bitcoin market. The CME Bitcoin futures market is a large-scale market regulated by the U.S. CFTC and is also a member of the Intermarket Surveillance Group, a network of shared market surveillance for global exchanges.



Craig Salm stated that Grayscale does not believe the introduction of a Supervisory Sharing Agreement in the spot Bitcoin market is or should be the "magic solution" for spot Bitcoin ETFs to be approved in the United States.



Second, actions by the SEC related to Bitcoin ETFs should be conducted in a fair and orderly manner. As a disclosure-based regulatory authority, the SEC should not pick winners and losers; instead, it should continue to provide consistent and fair feedback or guidance to issuers.



Finally, this is to ensure that U.S. investors are protected and able to choose their preferred Bitcoin investment tools. Nearly one million investors in all 50 states of the United States own GBTC, and the conversion of GBTC to an ETF would bring them billions of dollars in returns. When the SEC is ready to approve spot Bitcoin ETF applications, there is simply no reason to prevent GBTC investors from purchasing the spot Bitcoin ETFs they deserve. Grayscale will continue to advocate for this proposal on behalf of investors.