Grayscale Investments® launches lawsuit against SEC
Submits a request for review to the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Will argue that the SEC has violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
NEW YORK, June 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Grayscale Investments®, the world’s largest asset manager for digital currencies, announced today that their senior legal strategist, former U.S. Attorney, and partner in Munger, Tolles & Olson, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., filed a motion for review in the U.S. District Court of Columbia on behalf of Grayscale –[ads1]; challenging the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to deny conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (OTCQX: GBTC) to and spot Bitcoin ETF *.
Since 2013, Grayscale has been working to build the world’s largest Bitcoin investment car: the GBTC. Grayscale has voluntarily submitted registration statements to the SEC that have increased information available to investors, exposing these products to increased SEC oversight. Grayscale has also been working proactively for years to provide investors with complete disclosures and risk factors about GBTC and its expansive crypto-investment product family.
“Grayscale supports and believes in the SEC’s mandate to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation – and we are deeply disappointed and strongly disagree with the SEC’s decision to continue to deny spot Bitcoin ETFs from coming to the US market, “said Michael Sonnenshein, Grayscale’s CEO.” Through the ETF application review process, we believe that US investors overwhelmingly expressed a desire to see GBTC convert to a spot Bitcoin ETF, which would unlock billions of dollars of investor capital at the same time as the world’s largest Bitcoin fund is brought further into the US regulatory environment. We will continue to leverage the company’s full resources to advocate for our investors and fair regulatory treatment of Bitcoin investment vehicles. ”
“As outlined by Grayscale and the Davis Polk & Wardwell team, the SEC fails to apply consistent treatment to similar investment instruments and therefore acts arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,” he added. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., senior legal strategist at Grayscale and former U.S. Attorney General. “There is a compelling, common sense argument here, and we look forward to resolving this issue productively and quickly.”
Grayscale’s comment letter campaign during the 240-day review period resulted in a record 11,400+ total submissions to the SEC, with over 99.0 percent demonstrating support for the conversion.
* We use the generic term “ETF” to refer to exchange-traded investment instruments, including those required to register under the Investment Companies Act of 1940, as amended (the “40 Act”), as well as other non-exchange traded products. subject to the registration requirements of the 40 Act.
About Grayscale Investments®
Grayscale enables investors to access the digital economy through a family of secure, regulated and future-oriented investment products. Founded in 2013, Grayscale has a proven track record and deep expertise as the world’s largest digital currency manager. Investors, advisors and allocators cater to Grayscale’s private placements, public listings and ETFs for individual assets, diversified and thematic exposure. Grayscale products are distributed by Genesis Global Trading, Inc. (member of FINRA / SIPC, MSRB Registered) or Foreside Fund Services, LLC. For more information, follow @Grayscale or visit grayscale.com.
Media contact
Jennifer Rosenthal
press@grayscale.com
