Gensler Confirms 8 To 10 Spot Bitcoin ETF Applications Under SEC Review Despite Total 12 Filings

Gary Gensler, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said this week that the financial regulator was currently reviewing eight to ten spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, leaving the crypto community wondering what happened to the other filings.

The SEC chairman's recent statement created a myriad of speculations in the cryptocurrency industry, especially among those eagerly waiting for the official rollout of the products that would be offered by Wall Street giants, including BlackRock.

While Gensler's statement was interpreted by some as an official acknowledgment of the progress of the spot Bitcoin ETF applications, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart pointed out the chairman may have mistaken the total number of filings for just ten.

"He said these exact numbers last week when interviewing with @kaileyleinz too. Someone should let him know that there are 11 filings. And if you include $GBTC that's 12," Seyffart said in a tweet.

So far, the companies that have submitted spot Bitcoin ETF applications include Grayscale's Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), 21Shares & ARK's ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBTC), BitWise's Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust, VanEck's VanEck Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree's Wisdomtree Bitcoin Trust, Ivesco and Galaxy's Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, Valkyrie's Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, Global X's Global X Bitcoin Trust, Hashdex's Hashdex Bitcoin ETF and Franklin's Franklin Bitcoin ETF.

Some believe that Gensler's statement is his way of giving a deliberate impression that he "doesn't have his thumb on the scale" just like his usual non-answer response about the decision on the approval is with the staff.

Gensler made a similar statement earlier when he confirmed with Bloomberg: "What we have in front of us, just so that the viewing public understands, we have not one, but multiple; I think it's eight or ten filings that the staff, and ultimately the commission, is considering."

He also said during the Securities Enforcement Forum event in Washington that "those are things that are in front of staff" and that he would "let that play out" and refrain from pre-judging the situation before the SEC makes recommendations to the five-member commission.

The hype surrounding the SEC approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF applications is considered one of the major factors that triggered the rally of Bitcoin this week, particularly when the spot Bitcoin ETF ticker of BlackRock was discovered to be listed on the official website of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.