Court hearings on Grayscale’s lawsuit against SEC have begun
2023.01.25 05:12
Court hearings on Grayscale’s lawsuit against SEC have begun
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – The oral arguments in Grayscale Investment’s lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the SEC’s decision to deny Grayscale’s Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) are scheduled to be heard by an appeals court in the United States.
On March 7, at 9:30 a.m. local time, both sides will present their arguments at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, according to a court motion filed on January 23.
Oral arguments are speeches made by lawyers in which they explain why their clients should win the case. Each party in the case has equal time to respond to the judge’s questions and take turns directly speaking to him or her.
Put it on your calendar. In our case, oral arguments challenging the SEC’s decision to deny $GBTC conversion to a spot #bitcoin ETF were just scheduled for
Grayscale Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm tweeted on January 24 that the newly filed motion was “welcome news” because they had previously anticipated scheduling oral arguments for “as soon as Q2.”
According to the motion, the composition of the argument panel in the Grayscale case will be revealed on February 6, 30 days prior to the date of oral argument, and the length of time allotted for the argument will be determined separately.
The Oral Arguments motion’s due date is added to Grayscale’s appeals timeline. Grayscale Grayscale filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June after the agency denied its request to convert its $12 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Grayscale filed a reply brief with the D.C. Court of Appeals earlier this month, arguing that the SEC acted arbitrarily when it differentiated spot-traded ETFs from futures-traded products and that the SEC acted beyond its authority when it rejected Grayscale’s application for a Bitcoin ETF.
During an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on January 24, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein reiterated a similar point, stating:
It is essential to remind investors of the role regulators like the SEC play. They are not here to advise investors regarding investments. They are here to make sure that all the necessary disclosures are made, so that investors are aware of all the risks.
“Crypto will remain. Investors should not be told what to invest in by regulators. According to @Grayscale @sonnenshein, “they’re here to ensure that all the proper disclosures are made…so investors understand all the risks associated.” The SEC really plays that role.”
According to Sonnenshein, they were “certainly anticipating” a court decision regarding their case against the SEC in “Q2 or Q3 of this year.”
“The frustrating thing for investors and, more specifically, the Grayscale team is that we’re a business that was founded in the United States and used existing U.S. regulatory frameworks to bring cryptocurrency to investors in a safe and compliant manner,” says Grayscale.
He continued, “Meeting with both houses yesterday and today, what we’re really hearing […] is that a lot of the recent investor harm we’ve seen in crypto would’ve been prevented” if the SEC had already approved this spot-Bitcoin ETF.
