After the SEC rejected US-based Grayscale Investments’ application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to a spot exchange-trading fund, the company is now pressing on with its lawsuit against the U.S. organization.
Grayscale has filed the opening brief in its lawsuit against SEC, in an attempt to challenge the agency’s decision from June 29. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously denied the crypto asset management company’s application on the basis of concerns regarding potentially fraudulent and manipulative practices aimed at users.
The company’s opening brief argues that the “test the SEC has applied to Bitcoin-related ETFs, and only Bitcoin-related ETFs, is flawed and has been inconsistently applied with a “special harshness” to spot Bitcoin ETFs.”
Included in the statement is also Grayscale’s argument that “That stark arbitrariness cannot be justified or reconciled with the Commission’s mandate to treat like cases alike. Rather, it can be only understood as a substantive judgment on the merits of a spot Bitcoin investment — the kind of substantive judgment that is outside the Commission’s authority,”
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust institutional interest falling
The recent developments have caused institutional interest in Grayscale to fall, leading to GBTC being now traded at a 36% discount. This is the largest discount in its history, considering that the digital currency investment product has been previously trading at a 19% discount in the past 19 months.
You can learn more about Grayscale’s application here.