Coinbase submitted an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Court.
The federal regulator had rejected Grayscale’s application for a Bitcoin ETF.
Coinbase, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, is supporting Grayscale, the largest Bitcoin fund, in its lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Since the federal regulator has rejected Grayscale’s application for a Bitcoin ETF and all others, Grayscale has decided to take legal action. The fund alleges the SEC is “failing to apply consistent treatment to similar investment vehicles” by approving numerous Bitcoin futures ETFs while blocking the launch of spot market ETFs.
Coinbase Submits Amicus Curiae Brief
On Tuesday, Coinbase submitted an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing the same thing. To acquire exposure to a particular asset class without taking physical possession of that asset, investors may use exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
If Bitcoin were included in an exchange-traded fund (ETF), for instance, investors may participate in the cryptocurrency market without having to actually purchase Bitcoin themselves via a cryptocurrency exchange and keep their holdings in a wallet.
The end result of both futures and spot market ETFs is the same, but they use different strategies to get there. Spot market ETFs would back their shares with Bitcoin rather than derivative contracts, which enable traders to speculate on Bitcoin’s future price via futures ETFs.
The CFTC also oversees the futures market. Gary Gensler, the current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has previously alluded to the possibility that this may make these markets safer for everyday investors. The purchasing and selling of actual Bitcoins on the “spot market” is not subject to any kind of oversight.