Bitwise, one of the initial hopefuls for ETFs, has withdrawn its application.
Bitwise filed for a withdrawal of Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF, the application that was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 3rd.
The filing doesn’t provide many details on the reasoning, as the company simply stated it no longer sought the effectiveness of its proposed ETF and reassured the court that no sales were made in relation to it.
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Reportedly, to provide better representation, the fund would have supplied investors with market data from a number of cryptocurrency exchanges related to BTC and ETH futures contracts. In the initial application, Bitwise underlined its investment objective as such:
The Fund seeks to provide investors with capital appreciation. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.
It is unclear if the withdrawal was impacted by the SEC’s decision to delay its ruling on pending ETF applications. The regulator pushed back the September deadlines for applications of 6 firms to mid-October, and Bitwise is one of the companies that were affected. The SEC retains the right to push the dates further back, with speculation that it could extend to the next year.
It should be noted that the withdrawal wasn’t the first one for Bitwise. In May, Bitwise submitted an application for Ethereum Strategy ETF but, a week later, requested its withdrawal.
The news of withdrawal caused ripples within the crypto community, especially since Bitwise was one of the first companies to submit its application for ETF. The company even expressed support for Grayscale when the court ruled the SEC needed to properly review its application for ETF.
