In recent years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected dozens of spot bitcoin ETFs, claiming that the exchange proposals do not fulfil the essential standards.
Cboe Global Markets has modified its applications to list and trade shares of three spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, including one from Fidelity, in order to include surveillance-sharing agreements with cryptocurrency trading site Coinbase.
Coinbase shares closed up 9.8% at $89.15 on Tuesday, reaching their highest level since August 16 of last year. In recent years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected hundreds of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, claiming that the exchange proposals do not meet requirements aimed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative practises and safeguard investors and the public interest.
To comply, an exchange must demonstrate that it “has a comprehensive surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market of significant size related to the underlying or reference bitcoin assets,” according to the SEC.
On June 29, Nasdaq resubmitted to the SEC an application to market a spot bitcoin ETF by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management, which also included a surveillance-sharing arrangement with Coinbase.
Cboe had previously stated that it planned to achieve such an agreement with Coinbase, which drew about half of all US dollar-bitcoin trading on its platform in May.
As part of a broader crackdown on crypto intermediaries, the SEC sued Coinbase last month for failing to register as an exchange and dodging disclosure requirements meant to safeguard investors.
In a statement filed last month in Manhattan federal court, Coinbase stated that it will urge a judge to dismiss the SEC complaint, arguing that the regulator has the ability to pursue civil claims because the crypto assets trading on its platform are not “investment contracts,” and thus not securities.
