US SEC approves universal listing standards to expedite cryptocurrency ETF approvals

PANews reported on September 18th that, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a set of listing standards for commodity-based trust units, opening the door to digital asset listings without requiring individual approval. The decision, detailed in SEC filings from Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX on Wednesday, will streamline the process under Rule 6c-11, significantly reducing the approval process, which previously took several months. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that this move ensures that the U.S. capital market is the best place for cutting-edge innovation in digital assets, streamlining processes, lowering barriers to entry, maximizing investor choice, and promoting innovation.

The US SEC stated that to be eligible for listing, a cryptocurrency spot ETF must hold a commodity that is either traded on a market that belongs to a cross-market monitoring organization and has monitoring authority, or is the subject of a futures contract that has been listed on a designated contract market for at least six months and has a monitoring sharing agreement; in addition, if the cryptocurrency has been tracked by an ETF listed on a national securities exchange with an investment account of at least 40%, then the cryptocurrency spot ETF may also be eligible for listing; when an exchange seeks to list and trade cryptocurrency trading products that do not meet the approved general listing standards, it must submit a rule application to the US SEC.