The SEC has been dragging its feet when it comes to the greenlighting of a Bitcoin ETF for quite some time. A Bitcoin ETF would do wonders for the institutional appeal of BTC as a tradeable asset. An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) allows traders to bet on the ups and downs of Bitcoin without actually holding the volatile currency. This would help to dispel the concerns of many investors yet to enter the fray, may of whom are disinterested in holding a currency which fluctuates in value and security so often.

But the SEC has been very slow to accept any application for the prestigious offering. In fact, at the time of writing, every decision given by the Securities and Exchange Commission has either resulted in a clear rejection of an extension or delaying of the deliberation. This is not surprising for those that understand how meticulous American regulators have been regarding substantive cryptocurrency-related regulatory rulings. On nearly every occasion, the SEC has remarked that a key justifying element was missing from the application they debated on.

The latest decision to come from the SEC was another delay on the ETF application filed by Cboe in partnership with VanEck and SolidX. The application was rejected without many comments from the SEC, and it is the second time that the regulator has decided to delay their ruling since the June 20th ETF filing occurred. The SEC will now not rule on the issue until December 29th or later.

Though the first delay was met with some surprise, and even some bullish excitement, by parties involved, this latest decision has been characterized as “expected” by the digital asset strategy director at VanEck, Gabor Gurbacs. However, he outlined in a CoinDesk interview that his company was still looking to create what he called a “liquid, insured, and appropriately regulated” Bitcoin ETF.

The ETF proposition was slightly different than some others that have come before the committee within the Securities and Exchange Commission in that it integrated a clear system of physical Bitcoin to help mitigate some regulatory concerns that had been expressed in the SEC rejection of previous attempts at the lucrative BTC ETF.

Projects of success chances have not changed following the decision, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas. The decision from the SEC seems to have been expected, and consequently does not influence the chances of Bitcoin ETF success in either way.

Aside from their claim to the only Bitcoin ETF application with a “physically-backed” Bitcoin system, the VanEck/SolidX application starts bidding for shares in the ETF at a hefty $200,000. According to some speculators, this amount is intentionally so high to attempt to prevent inexperienced retail investors from entering the market.

While this will make the hardcore crypto fan shudder in annoyance, this has historically been a big selling point for the SEC, which has expressed its concerns about a lack of institutional backing and interest in the ETF.

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