Bitcoin Investment Trust showed interest to be listed on NYSE Arca, according to a registration statement filed Friday with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the second proposed Bitcoin investment trust listing on the exchange.
“This is an initial public offering of the Trust’s Shares,” BIT’s registration statement reads. The shares “are designed to provide investors with a cost-effective and convenient way to invest in Bitcoin.” Grayscale Investments, LLC is the sponsor of the Trust, Delaware Trust Company is the trustee, the Bank of New York Mellon is the transfer agent, as well as the administrator, and Xapo Inc. is the custodian. The annual fee for investors will remain at 2 percent. The proposed maximum offering is $500 million of the Trust’s shares.
Firstly, the company’s initial filing has to come and the next step will be for the exchange to file with the SEC “a proposed rule change to list and trade shares” under NYSE Arca Equities Rule 8.201. Then the proposed rule change would be published for comments in the Federal Register. This usually happens between two to three weeks after a filing with the SEC.
After publishing in the Federal Register, the Commission has 180 days to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change. However, it can also extend that period by a maximum of 60 days if necessary, which is a total of 240 days from the publication in the Federal Register. For BIT, 180 days from a likely date of publication in the Federal Register would be early August and 60 days after that would be early October.
The SEC has a habit of delaying making decisions on Bitcoin investment funds as seen by the delay for Solidx, taking the maximum time allowed by the Securities Exchange Act.
Nevertheless, the new US administration may be more Bitcoin friendly than the previous administration. “We need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm American workers,” President Trump recently said.
