The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken the next steps in its consideration of the proposed Franklin Templeton and Hashdex spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) bids, requesting written comments on the applications.
The SEC has asked for comments on both proposals to approve or deny the applicants' Forms 19b-4, which are public disclosures approved by the SEC Trading and Markets Division. The comments period will be open for 35 days from their publication in the Federal Register, allowing for both comments and responses to comments.
The proposed rule changes, or applications, were filed in late September and would enable the trading of the ETFs. The Hashdex ETF would be traded on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, while Franklin Templeton's would be on Cboe BZX. The SEC extended its deadline for deciding on the applications on November 15.
The SEC's questions for commenters focus on issues related to potential ETF approval. Specifically, commenters are invited to assess the susceptibility of the funds to manipulation and the size of the exchanges that will host them.
For Franklin Templeton, commenters are also asked to consider price manipulation in the Bitcoin market, the company's surveillance sharing agreement with Coinbase, which would aid in price discovery and efforts to detect manipulation and fraud, and the correlation between Bitcoin spot and futures prices.
