NYSE, Nasdaq withdraw 3 more requests for crypto ETF options rule changes

Activity keeps heating up around Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF options.

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) American and Nasdaq International Securities Exchange (ISE) withdrew three more requests for rule changes related to listing options on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to regulatory filings submitted after market close on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15. 

The withdrawals are the latest in a flurry of activity surrounding spot BTC and ETH ETF options in the United States. On Aug. 13, NYSE Arca withdrew another requested rule change intended to chart a path toward listing crypto ETF options.

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Nasdaq ISE withdrew requests to permit the listing and trading of options representing shares of Bitcoin and Ether trusts, respectively. NYSE American similarly withdrew requests to “permit the listing and trading of options on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC), and any trust that holds bitcoin.”

The filings follow statements in July from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requesting more time to consider the proposals.

Comments from Nasdaq in May showed that the exchange was seeking to demonstrate “that the shares of each of the specified Bitcoin ETPs on which an exchange proposes to list options are ‘widely held and actively traded,’ as required by the exchanges’ rules.”

In February, Grayscale — the largest crypto fund issuer with approximately $25 billion in assets under management (AUM) — urged the SEC to “update its outdated historical patchwork approach and “approve the Exchanges’ applications to list options on spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products,” including the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Analysts see the withdrawals as an indicator of positive momentum toward exchanges reaching an agreement with the SEC to list crypto ETF options.

“There’s definitely some movement on Bitcoin ETF options,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said in a post on X. “The SEC likely gave some sort of feedback.”

Investors in the US are currently permitted to trade options on ETFs that track the performance of BTC using derivatives but not on ETFs that physically hold Bitcoin itself.

“[I]f investing in options for shares of products holding derivatives of an asset is acceptable for investors, investing in options for shares of products holding the asset itself should be as well,” according to Grayscale’s letter.