The SEC said it has approved proposals for spot bitcoin ETFs on an accelerated basis

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has approved proposals for 11 spot bitcoin ETFs on an accelerated basis, in a document that was uploaded to the SEC website and now goes to a 404 error.

"It certainly looks like the Bitcoin BTC -1.29% ETF Approval order had hit the SEC website but the link is no longer working. That said, this document looks accurate to me," said Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on X.

Earlier today, the Cboe BZX exchange sent letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, requesting “acceleration of registration” for proposed spot bitcoin ETFs. A few hours later, it issued listing notifications for six prospective ETFs saying that trading would begin on Thursday. This was prior to any approvals by the SEC.

Once trading gets underway, these products could see large inflows. Valkyrie Investments co-founder and CIO Steven McClurg said he expects $200 million to $400 million of investors’ funds coming to Valkyrie’s ETF, and all participants might see $4 to $5 billion of inflows over the first couple of weeks.

VanEck estimated that $1 billion of funds would arrive in the first few days, and $2.4 billion within a quarter. Galaxy expects $14 billion within the first year. Bitwise said it anticipated the market for spot bitcoin ETFs to reach around $72 billion within five years. 

On Tuesday, the SEC’s X account was compromised and a post went out claiming the SEC had granted approval for listing bitcoin ETFs on all registered securities exchanges with an image showing a quote by SEC Chair Gary Gensler. It was shortly deleted with follow up posts claiming it was unauthorized and that spot bitcoin ETFs had not been approved by that point.

Preparing for spot bitcoin ETFs

The issuers have also lined up seed funding for their products. VanEck has taken the lead with direct investment, noting that it has seeded its potential spot bitcoin ETF with $72.5 million. Bitwise has seeded its proposed ETF with $500,000, according to its amended S-1 form, but Pantera Capital has also said that it is interested in putting $200 million into the fund if approved. BlackRock has seeded its potential spot bitcoin ETF with $10 million.

Prior to approval, the ETF applicants had been waging a war for who can offer the lowest fees. Bitwise went the lowest, with zero fees for the first six months or until $1 billion of assets, and 0.2% afterward — which it lowered from 0.24% just days before. BlackRock maintained its offering of a discounted 0.2% for the first 12 months or until the fund hits $5 billion in assets, and 0.3% from then on. Other fees range up to 1.5% at the highest.