Grayscale CEO Ready To File Lawsuit Against SEC for Bitcoin Spot ETF

Key Insights:

• Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein stated they’re open to all options to get a spot Bitcoin ETF.
• He said that the SEC is not doing everything it can for the investors currently.
• GBTC continues to trade at a heavy discount of 26.22%.

As the broader market hit recovery in the last 24 hours, a lot of attention went back to crypto. But the more significant issue, as highlighted by Grayscale’s CEO Michael Sonnenshein is the lack of clearer investment methods for crypto.

And for the same, he believes the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is necessary.

Grayscale Wants Spot Bitcoin ETF

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sonnenshein discussed the ongoing dilemma around the approval of a spot BTC ETF and how the SEC dragging the decision around it is only preparing Grayscale to take any route necessary to make it happen.

Since the announcement in October last year, Grayscale has been doing everything to make sure that the request of converting the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF plays in its favor.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission has only been delaying the process. Commenting on the same, Sonnenshein said,

“It’s really important that investors know that we have and will continue to advocate for them but their voice can actually be heard through this process as well. And so the SEC has opened up this comment period for investors to advocate why they want an ETF.”

He believes that it is essential for investors to actively support the ETF since, currently, GBTC has investors across all the 50 states of the USA with more than 800k accounts.

This could not only tip the decision to their corner but also keep the SEC’s primary concern intact. Adding to the same, Sonnenshein said,

“Every single day that it [GBTC] is trading and being bought and sold by investors and is not being folded into the familiarity and the protections of the ETF wrapper we really don’t feel that the SEC is doing everything they can to actually protect investors. “

The next date for this decision is set in July, and upon being asked if Grayscale would go down the path of an APA lawsuit in case of rejection, Sonnenshein stated,

“I think all options are on the table.

GBTC Today

Even if a GBTC ETF is approved, it will need to be alluring enough to actually gather investors, and GBTC’s current state is far from that.

Despite the multiple rallies since last year, GBTC has been slipping consistently and is presently trading at a massive discount of 26.22%.

While Sonnenshein believes that post-conversion into ETF, investors will realize the true potential of GBTC, and those willing to stick around for the long term will be able to reap benefits of the same.

As of today, multiple well-performing ETFs such as the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), VanEck Bitcoin ETF (XBTF), and Valkyrie Bitcoin ETF (BTF) already exist. Thus taking on them would be a big challenge for Grayscale when its ETF comes out.