Ark's Cathie Wood Says SEC Hack Shouldn't Delay Bitcoin ETF Decision

“This is true scarcity evolving here,” she said, referring to Bitcoin’s capped supply of 21 million tokens.

An approval would cap years of anticipation by industry watchers who view the launch of such a vehicle as a watershed moment for the digital-asset sector. The Jan. 10 deadline stems from ARK and 21Shares’ April application, which came first among this batch of filers.

“This is a massive shift in financial infrastructure,” Ophelia Snyder, co-founder of 21.co, said on Bloomberg’s ETF IQ on Wednesday. “This is really about providing access.”

Hype around a potential green light has been rampant on social media and Bitcoin surged past $45,000 in the days leading up to the decision.

Standard Chartered PLC suggested this week that Bitcoin could climb to $200,000 by the end of 2025 on ETF approvals, citing the example of gold exchange-traded products. The firm expects investor inflows of $50 billion to $100 billion into Bitcoin ETFs this year.

The SEC under Gensler and his Trump-era predecessor, Jay Clayton, has previously refused to allow such a product, citing concerns about investor protection and the potential for market manipulation.

However, speculation that the agency will have a change of heart has been mounting since August, when the SEC lost a key legal fight against crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments LLC.

The competition is stiff. Prospective Bitcoin ETF issuers have been slashing their costs in the run-up to Wednesday, with many in the market expecting the US regulator will make a decision on all the applicants at once.