SEC Delays Prediction-Market ETFs as Bitcoin Tops $80,000

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday delayed more than two dozen proposed exchange-traded funds tied to prediction markets after asking issuers for additional details on product structure and investor disclosures. Filings by Roundhill Investments, GraniteShares and Bitwise, submitted in February, were under a 75-day review and had been expected to move forward this week. People familiar with the filings expect the delay could be temporary once firms provide supplemental materials.

The funds would offer exposure to contracts that pay out based on binary event outcomes, such as election results, economic data releases and market prices, without requiring investors to trade on prediction market venues. Regulators requested information on how the funds would be structured, how risks would be disclosed and how information flows would be governed, citing concerns about insider trading risks and potential market manipulation.

Bitcoin rose above $80,000 on Monday. The price climbed about 2.7% in an early-morning advance that began around 1:25 a.m. UTC, moving from roughly $78,415 to a peak above $80,500 within about 75 minutes and reaching about $80,515 by 4:20 a.m. UTC. Ether, XRP and BNB gained about 3.9%, 2.4% and 3.3% respectively over the same 24-hour period.

The price advance coincided with stronger Asian equity trading, where the MSCI AC Asia Index increased 2.3% to 245.2, a recent high. U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net inflows in 11 of the past 14 trading days, including a roughly $630 million single-day inflow late last week.

MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor announced the company would pause Bitcoin purchases ahead of its quarterly earnings report.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation plans a pilot for trading tokenized securities in July and is targeting an expanded full service in October. The DTCC said more than 50 traditional and decentralized finance firms are part of its industry working group, including asset managers, custody and infrastructure firms and major U.S. banks.

The DTCC, which holds custody for about $114 trillion in liquid assets, said the pilot will include limited production trades. The full service is expected to tokenize a set of widely traded liquid assets, initially including exchange-traded funds that track major indexes, constituents of the Russell 1000 and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and notes. The DTCC said it expects the service will provide the same entitlements, investor protections and ownership rights as traditional forms of those assets.

Prediction-market ETFs and tokenized securities face different regulatory and operational questions. The ETF filings remain under SEC review while the DTCC’s pilot will test system integration, custody arrangements and post-trade processes with industry participants.