Digital currency asset manager Grayscale filed suit against the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its rejection of its spot Bitcoin ETF. Now, the firm’s CEO Michael Sonnenshein spoke about this matter in an interview.
“We were simply asking the SEC to hold this product to a higher standard, to give it greater investor protection and give greater risk disclosure for investors,” he said. “Converting would unlock billions of dollars of unrealized shareholder value.”
In the interview, Michael Sonnenshein revealed the prejudiced treatment by the SEC. The regulatory have approved trading of Bitcoin futures product under specific rules and regulations and on the other hand, it has denied spot trading and similar products.
“The inconsistent treatment here by the SEC — allowing the futures products to trade but denying the spot products to trade — is not looking at what is essentially the same exact market through a like lens here,” Sonnenshein said. “In fact, the treatment is quite disparate.”
Todd Rosenbluth of VettaFi also affirmed by sharing his thoughts that could change the SEC perspective. The commission puts some regulations in place for bitcoin future-based ETFs that distinguish them from spot-based products.
Also Read: Grayscale Files Lawsuit Against SEC Over Bitcoin ETF Rejection
“I wish Michael [Sonnenshein] best of luck in the lawsuit, but it’s hard to convince the SEC that there isn’t going to be fraud and manipulation when that’s what they’re clearly asking the asset managers to disprove time and time again,” VettaFi’s head of research said.
Sonnenshein cited other countries like Brazil, Canada, and European countries where authorities are welcoming spot Bitcoin ETFs. Also, he advised authorities to work on the domestic level first rather than bringing the prospective ETF to the international market.
