The United States appeals court is set to hear oral arguments related to Grayscale Investment’s lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its decision to reject the point exchange fund (ETF) Grayscale Bitcoin (BTC).
According to the court motion filed on January 23, both sides will present their arguments in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 7, 2023, at 09:30 local time.
An oral argument is a presentation given by a lawyer that summarizes why the client should win the case. Each party in the case takes turns to speak directly and answer questions from the judge and is given the same amount of time to do so.
Mark your calendars. Oral Argument in our case challenges the SEC’s decision to deny $GBTC conversion to point #bitcoin ETFs are only scheduled for
*Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 930 EST*. pic.twitter.com/PMQVUsebMO– Craig Salm (@CraigSalm) January 24, 2023
In a Jan. 24 Twitter post, Grayscale Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm said the newly filed motion is “welcome news” as he previously expected Oral Arguments to be scheduled “as soon as Q2.”
The composition of the argument panel in the Grayscale case will be revealed on February 6, 30 days before the date of the Oral Argument, while the amount of time for the argument will be set in a separate order, according to the motion.
Grayscale initiated a lawsuit against the SEC in June 2022 after the regulator rejected an application to convert the $12 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based ETF.
Earlier this month, Grayscale filed a brief with the DC appeals court, claiming the SEC acted arbitrarily in treating spot-traded ETFs differently from futures-trading products and that the SEC exceeded its authority when it rejected Grayscale’s application for the Bitcoin ETF.
related: SEC’s ‘one-dimensional’ approach is slowing Bitcoin’s progress: Grayscale CEO
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein reiterated the same point during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on January 24, stating:
“It is important to remember the role of regulators like the SEC when it comes to investors. They are not here to tell investors what to do or not to invest. They are here to ensure that all the correct disclosures are made. […] become [investors] aware of all the risks involved.”
“Crypto is here to stay. Regulators are not here to tell investors what to do and what not to invest in. They are here to make sure all the proper disclosures are made… so investors know all the risks involved, ” he said @Grayscale @sonnenshein. “That’s really the role of the SEC.” pic.twitter.com/k30y6DewBe
– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 24, 2023
Sonnenshein said he “definitely expects” a decision from the court on the case against the SEC in “Q2 or Q3 of this year.”
“What’s frustrating for investors and certainly the Grayscale team is that we’re actually a US-born business, using the existing US regulatory framework to bring crypto to investors in a safe and compliant way.”
“Meeting with both houses yesterday and today, what I heard […] is that the SEC has approved this spot-Bitcoin ETF […] a lot of the harm new investors see in crypto will be prevented,” he said.