Securities and Exchange Commission approved-then suddenly pause-bitwise’s plan to convert its BitWise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BitW) to a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Tuesday and raised fresh uncertainty about the agency’s standards for crypto-ETFs.
The fund owns 90% of its weight in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), with the rest spread over Solana (Sun), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (Avax), Chainlink (Link), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Uniswap (Uni) and Polkadot (DOT). It manages $ 1.68 billion in assets and rebalances monthly.
BitWise launched the fund in 2017. The 2.5% expenditure relationship remains steep after ETF standards, but the conversion to a spot ETF would make Bitw the first multi-ass crypto-index etf in USA it continues. Asset Manager has not yet announced whether the management fee would remain at 2.5%.
A similar product, Grayscales Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), which tracks BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA, also received the first SEC approval before the agency turned the course and paused the fund’s launch.
A letter from SEC on Tuesday said “The Commission will review the delegated action,” Identical wording to the grayscale letter received when its ETF was paused.
According to sources that spoke to Coindesk at that time, SEC’s hesitation is likely to come from the need to establish uniform standards for crypto -Tfs, especially for tokens such as XRP and ADA, who do not yet have independent ETFs.
SEC’s ETF dock has been busy. On Tuesday, the regulator published archives from Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Inesco Galaxy and others seeking to change redemption mechanics for their Bitcoin and/or Ethereum ETFs. It also launched a review of the Canary Capital Sui ETF and extended the deadline for 21Shares’ SUI ETF application.
Separately, 21Shares submitted a proposal for an ETF tracking Ondo, Token, which runs the real world’s active platform ondo finance.
