Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, has criticized the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a delayed response on a proposal to list options trading on the firm’s Bitcoin Spot ETF.
Notably, the Commission has continued to issue delayed responses to all recent digital asset-related ETF proposals/amendments despite a crypto-friendly policy of the Donald Trump Administration.
SEC Delay Is Frustrating, Offers No Feedback, VanEck’s Sigel Says
On April 3, 2025, the Chicago Board of Exchange (Cboe) filed a proposed rule change to list options trading on the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL). For context, options trading grants investors the right to buy and sell an asset at a specific price before a certain date.
Following the resounding success of the US Bitcoin Spot ETFs, options trading became a potential mode of market expansion, with several asset managers submitting applications to offer options to their respective ETFs.
Notably, the SEC has granted approval for this request for multiple Bitcoin ETFs, including the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), among others.
However, following the initial 45-day review, the Commission has delayed a response on Cboe’s proposal to list trading options on the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL). In an X post on May 23, Matthew Sigel strongly criticized this decision, which he described as “frustrating” and offered no transparency to investors.
While tagging Hester Pierce, the Head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, Sigel complained that the Commission had issued a delayed response while offering no comments or feedback along with this decision. The VanEck Exec explained the asset manager’s objection to this development while responding to a user comment. He said.
This was the first decision date, so it has not been rejected, just delayed, even though the SEC’s initial comments were addressed. It’s the lack of any feedback that is particularly irksome…
It is highly worth noting that delayed responses by the SEC have been quite a common response for digital assets ETF-related proposals. The Commission can choose to wait till the final decision deadline, i.e., 240 days after the application, as seen with the Bitcoin Spot ETFs in 2024. However, Sigel’s concerns stem from an absence of an explanation on this delayed ruling, especially considering that options trading has been approved for certain other Bitcoin Spot ETFs.
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