Grayscale lawyers refer to SEC allowing Volatility Shares’ investment vehicle in push for ETF
Grayscale lawyers refer to SEC allowing Volatility Shares’ investment vehicle in push for ETF

Digital asset manager Grayscale has filed a letter in its lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for rejecting a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), citing possible precedent to advance its case.

In a letter dated July 10, Grayscale’s legal team Informed The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has approved the listing of Volatility Shares Trust’s leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETF. The crypto investment vehicle began trading on June 27 without interference from the SEC, which has so far not approved any spot crypto ETFs but has approved ETFs tied to BTC futures.

According to Grayscale, the volatility stock ETF exposes investors to a “riskier investment product” than a BTC futures ETF, suggesting that the SEC may approve its offering. The asset manager filed a legal challenge with the commission in June 2022 after the SEC rejected an application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

“The fact that the Commission allowed leveraged Bitcoin futures ETPs to begin trading shows that the Commission continues to treat spot Bitcoin ETPs arbitrarily differently than Bitcoin futures,” Grayscale said. Bitcoin ETPs face more exposure to the Bitcoin market.”

related: Why a Bitcoin ETF Approval Will Be a Big Deal

The letter added:

“The only way to eliminate the Commission’s unequal treatment of Bitcoin-based ETPs is to allow proposed spot Bitcoin ETPs like Grayscale to begin trading.”

Several companies have submitted spot encryption ETF applications to the SEC, including BlackRock and ARK Investment Management, the world’s largest asset management companies. Following a report in June, SEC officials claimed that crypto ETF filings were not “sufficiently clear and comprehensive,” and some applications were subsequently refiled to include cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as a monitoring partner.

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