VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary urge SEC to revert to ‘first to file, first to approve’ standard for crypto ETFs

Key Takeaways

VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital urge the SEC to revert to its ‘first-to-file, first-to-approve’ commonplace for crypto ETP approvals.
Simultaneous approvals are stated to stifle innovation and drawback smaller ETF companies.

Three asset managers — VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital — have co-signed a letter urging the SEC to revive its conventional “first-to-file, first-to-approve” commonplace for exchange-traded merchandise.

The letter, printed on VanEck’s official X account on June 6, expresses concern over the current departure from its conventional follow of approving ETPs within the order they have been filed.

The Fee has adopted a simultaneous approval course of, which, in accordance with the fund managers, has deprived smaller companies and stifled innovation within the $15.4 trillion US ETF market.

“When the Fee performs favorites, it prices ETP sponsors cash and makes the ETP market much less honest,” the businesses said of their joint letter.

The companies famous the launch of the Bitcoin futures ETF in late 2021, the place ProShares secured over 90% of market share with only a three-day head begin.

Additionally they pointed to the January 10, 2024, simultaneous approval of spot Bitcoin ETPs, the place they are saying the most important companies have gained dominant market share regardless of submitting later than others.

“This vital regulatory shift away from a first-to-file approval precept adversely impacts market dynamics in a number of crucial methods,” the letter said. “It incentivizes replication reasonably than authentic innovation, thereby discouraging the appreciable funding essential to develop genuinely revolutionary merchandise.”

In January 2024, the SEC accepted all 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs concurrently, disregarding the order through which the issuers had filed their functions.

A couple of months later, the regulator adopted the identical method with spot Ethereum ETFs, granting joint approval to all energetic filings no matter submission timing.

VanEck and 21Shares have been among the many earliest companies to file for each spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, taking part in a pioneering position in bringing digital asset publicity to the US market.

Following these milestone approvals, each companies, together with Canary Capital, shortly moved to guide the subsequent wave of filings for various crypto asset ETFs.

Canary Capital, particularly, made an early push into the altcoin ETF area, submitting proposals for a staked TRON ETF, a Cronos ETF, and different area of interest crypto merchandise.

Nonetheless, regardless of early efforts by these issuers, the SEC’s current precedent means that simultaneous approval, reasonably than first-to-file prioritization, might once more be the result, ought to the Fee resolve to greenlight further crypto ETPs.

Over the previous a number of weeks, the SEC has delayed selections on a number of altcoin ETF functions, together with these tied to Solana, XRP, and Litecoin, amongst others.

Bloomberg Intelligence’s newest projections place the approval odds for Litecoin and Solana ETFs at 90% this 12 months, with XRP ETFs not far behind at 85%.