Sonnenshein argued that the SEC, while approving Teucrium’s application under the 1933 Act, defined the underlying market as being restricted to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)-listed bitcoin futures. However, the CME futures are influenced by the unregulated spot market. So, the regulator can no longer deny spot-based ETFs, stating they are exposed to abuse. Grayscale’s parent company Digital Currency Group is also the owner of CoinDesk, which is run as an independent subsidiary with an editorial firewall. Grayscale has applied to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot-based ETF.
