Speculation over the approval timeline for options products related to the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF has been brewing among industry insiders. A Reuters report on February 1 revealed insights from several sources that it may take several months for these options to gain regulatory approval, which, they fear, could lessen the charm of these underlying products.
The delay in approval arises mainly due to the absence of a set regulatory protocol for legitimizing such options products. Typically, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supervises technical rule changes that exchanges have to implement to list these options products, proceeding with approvals just days after ETFs begin trading.
However, since Bitcoin is viewed as a commodity, the options products related to the Bitcoin spot ETF could require approval from another governing body, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). These Bitcoin spot ETF-related products might bring about jurisdictional and regulatory challenges, which the CFTC is currently dealing with, shared a person familiar with the situation.
Providing an estimated timeline, Martin Leinweber, Digital Asset Product Strategist at MarketVector Indexes, stated that the approval could take anywhere from two to ten months. MarketVector Indexes is the provider of the benchmark for the VanEck Bitcoin Spot ETF. Additionally, it was also revealed that executives from some trading platforms will be meeting with CFTC officials soon to discuss the matter.
