Valkyrie Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Steven McClurg told ETF.com on November 2 that regulators could approve a spot Bitcoin ETF by the end of the month.
McClurg said he expects the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to send a second request for comment to several spot Bitcoin ETF applicants in the coming weeks. The SEC previously sought comment as of late September. Valkyrie reportedly filed an update to its own filing this week.
The CIO said that after the SEC sends out these new requests, it could approve the necessary 19b-4 filings by the end of November. These documents relate to proposed rule changes that would allow exchanges to list the spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in question.
McClurg said this approval timeline “likely means a February launch” in 2024, as the SEC could ask companies to add more details to other S-1 filings before a final launch.
Bitwise is “hopeful;” expects $50 billion in five years
ETF.com also obtained a statement from Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, who said he is “hopeful” about his company’s plans to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Hougan commented on certain issues, noting that “market manipulation is still a potential stumbling block” and noting that “custody is not [necessarily] a wrap.”
While other applicants have attempted to address issues surrounding market manipulation by implementing monitoring sharing agreements, most notably with Coinbase, Bitwise is less optimistic about this. Hougan made similar statements when Bitwise updated its filing in late September, suggesting such agreements may not be compliant.
Both executives also provided estimates on the amount of value the ongoing funds could attract. McClurg predicted $10 billion in demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the four to eight weeks after launch. Meanwhile, Hougan forecast inflows of more than $50 billion over five years, weighted toward later years.
Other ETF applicants are also boosting expectations
Valkyrie Investments and Bitwise are among about a dozen companies in the running to offer the first exchange-traded Bitcoin funds in the US
The latest set of proposals was largely prompted by major asset manager BlackRock, which filed its spot Bitcoin ETF application on June 15. Several other hopeful asset managers have patterned their own applications after BlackRock.
Elsewhere, Grayscale has sparked optimism with a legal victory that will force the SEC to review its ETF filing. However, Grayscale’s plan involves converting the existing GBTC fund into an ETF and is quite different from most other pending filings.