SEC Rejects First Trust SkyBridge's Spot Bitcoin ETF Proposal

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected the proposal to list a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by investment advisory firm First Trust and hedge fund SkyBridge Capital.

• The SEC's decision comes around four weeks after it rejected investment firm Kryptoin's proposal to list a spot bitcoin ETF. The commission had previously rejected spot bitcoin ETF proposals from VanEck and WisdomTree.
• Following First Trust and SkyBridge's initial application to list an ETF on the New York Stock Exchange in March last year, the SEC extended the deadline for its decision first in July, and then in November.
• The eventual rejection filed Thursday of the proposed First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust comes as no surprise given the precedent set by the SEC for a preference toward ETFs that track the bitcoin futures market, rather than the asset itself.
• Two such bitcoin futures ETFs, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF), began trading in October.
• A decision on Fidelity Investment's proposal for a spot bitcoin ETF is also due today.

Read more: Are Spot Crypto ETFs Really Worth the Wait?