CBOE files another Bitcoin ETF application with the SEC

Two months after filing VanEck’s BitcoinETF, CBOE has submitted another application — one proposed by Fidelity — to the SEC.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, or CBOE, has filed Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

CBOE filed a Form 19b-4 on Monday seeking to list  Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust Bitcoin ETF that was initially submitted to the SEC by the $4.9 trillion asset manager back in March.

Monday’s Form 19b-4 which puts CBOE as the exchange partner for Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF filing has triggered the SEC approval process.

The Commission’s first response window will close in 45 days upon which the SEC will elect to extend or reject the application altogether. In total, the SEC has 240 days to evaluate Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF application.

Back in April, the SEC postponed its decision on the VanEck Bitcoin ETF application until June.

CBOE’s filing also puts Fidelity’s application among a list of Bitcoin ETF hopefuls apart from VanEck that include WisdomTree and SkyBridge Capital.

Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital has also submitted a Bitcoin ETF application with the SEC, with the NYSE Arca listed as the exchange partner.

The company, via its subsidiary, also launched a BTC ETF product in Canada back in March. Indeed, Canada has become a Bitcoin ETF trading hub in North America amid a raft of approval by securities regulators in the country.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETF hopefuls in the U.S. are keen to see the SEC under Gary Gensler’s charge approve an ETF product for the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

However, recent comments by the SEC commissioner might indicate that such an outcome is not yet possible. Speaking earlier in May, Gensler called for greater investor protection in the crypto market.

Under Jay Clayton — the immediate past SEC chair — the commission regularly identified volatility, price manipulation, and investor protection concerns as reasons for not approving any Bitcoin ETF application.