The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may potentially approve all 12 pending spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) applications within the next eight days, according to analysts from Bloomberg ETF. The analysts, James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, noted that a window exists from November 9 to November 17 for the SEC to approve these applications, including Grayscale's potential conversion of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF. They emphasized that this is only a possibility but argued that the SEC might aim to allow all 12 filers to proceed.
The limited window for potential approvals arises because the SEC set November 8 as the last day of the comment period when extending the deadline for certain spot Bitcoin ETF applications. After November 17, the comment period for three specific applications—Global X Bitcoin Trust, Hashdex Bitcoin ETF, and Franklin Bitcoin ETF—will reopen, delaying potential approval or rejection until after November 23 at the earliest. Although the window for the 12 applications closes on November 17, Seyffart highlighted that the SEC could technically make decisions on nine of them at any time before January 10.
While there is no certainty regarding spot Bitcoin ETF approvals, both Seyffart and Balchunas predict a 90% chance of approval by January 10. Concurrently, Grayscale has reportedly initiated discussions with the SEC about converting its GBTC trust product into a spot Bitcoin ETF. This comes after Grayscale won a court case with regulators on August 29, and discussions with the SEC's Trading and Markets Division and Corporate Finance Division have been ongoing since then.
As the anticipation of a Bitcoin ETF approval grows, optimism in the cryptocurrency market has risen, with Bitcoin experiencing over a 30% price increase in the past three months. This surge has also positively impacted other major assets, such as Solana (SOL) gaining 93% in the past month, Ripple (XRP) growing by 36%, and Ether (ETH) increasing by 20%. While some industry participants believe that ETF approval could mark the beginning of the next bull market, other analysts remain skeptical about the sustainability of the rally.
