Several financial companies seeking to list exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which are tied to Bitcoin have announced that they have withdrawn the filings, following a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the past month, ProShares Trust, Exchange-Listed Funds Trust, and Direxion Shares ETF Trust had all intended to offer new exchange-traded products, and had filed applications to the U.S. SEC. Interestingly, none of the proposed offerings planned to hold bitcoin directly; instead, their price movements would be driven by changes in the bitcoin futures market.

In a letter dated 8th January, Direxion’s secretary, Angela Brickl, explained that during a telephone call, staff from the SEC had \"expressed concerns\" about the valuation and liquidity of the instruments into which the ETF planned to make investments. As a result of this, Direxion had agreed to withdraw the Amendment so that these concerns could be addressed. Letters containing similar statements have also been released by the other companies who have withdrawn their applications.

In the past week, the SEC has released two proposals filed by Cboe, seeking to exempt its ETF from rules regarding market manipulation which apply to traditional assets. The SEC is currently carrying out a public consultation on the proposals.