SEC Approves Teucrium’s Bitcoin Futures ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed NYSE Arca and Teucrium to issue a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.

The SEC announced the approval Wednesday in a filing on its website, adding Teucrium to a host of other bitcoin futures ETF issuers. Notably, Teucrium and NYSE Arca filed the application under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, filing a 19b-4 form with the SEC. The already-approved bitcoin futures ETFs were filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which follows a slightly different regulatory pathway to approval.

An approval under the Securities Act of 1933, which Teucrium’s filing falls under, may potentially open the door for a spot bitcoin ETF, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said on Twitter earlier this year. Proponents of crypto ETFs have argued that “like situations must be treated alike,” he said, citing an argument from crypto company Grayscale, which filed to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Fund (GBTC) to an ETF (disclosure: Grayscale is a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent company Digital Currency Group).

The SEC has to date disapproved most spot bitcoin ETF applications, citing concerns about market manipulation and a lack of a surveillance-sharing agreement between an ETF issuer and a sizable market that trades the underlying asset. That has not stopped various companies from trying to bring a bitcoin ETF to market.

Valkyrie has also filed to launch a 33 Act bitcoin futures ETF. Its application remains outstanding.

ProShares, Valkyrie and VanEck are among those approved to list and trade bitcoin futures ETFs in the U.S. so far.