Crypto Giants Clash Over Speed of ETF Approval Process

Three major players in the crypto market - Grayscale, A16z (Andreessen Horowitz), and Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) - have weighed in on a proposed change to how the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reviews exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings.

The debate centers around whether ETF sponsors should be allowed to file confidentially until their funds can start trading, and how quickly the approval process should be. Grayscale, which offers 18 ETFs/ETPs, argues that a confidential filing period would 'reduce the incentive for competing sponsors to file imitative or duplicative registration statements.'

A16z agrees with this assessment and wants the SEC to shorten its review process, saying filings are now largely templated and that the markets these products access move on a shorter horizon than the current review period.

However, Jane Street opposes a quicker process, arguing it could lead to 'rushed registrations' that result in lower-quality, less competitive, and less liquid investment products. This would hurt retail investors with wider spreads, or the gap between buying and selling prices at any moment.