• The Cboe BZX Exchange (“BZX”) can no longer list VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF or trade its shares
• CEO of VanEck, Jan van Eck, says the withdrawal is only temporary
• The ongoing US Government Shut Down may have something to do with the withdrawal

On January 23, 2019, the deputy secretary of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Eduardo Aleman, released an official report announcing that Cboe BZX Exchange (“BZX”) has withdrawn from a proposed rule change. If the proposal was allowed, it would have allowed the exchange to list and trade shares issued by VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF.

The proposal was first filed by the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. with the SEC on June 20, 2018, then published in the Federal Register on July 2 for comment.

The SEC had until Feb 27 to make a decision of the proposed rule change after several delays during which they asked for the public opinions and conducting meetings with various proponents.

“Withdrawal is temporary”

The CEO of VanEck, Jan van Eck had told CNBC on Wednesday, that the proposed rule change will be withdrawn then submitted later due to the prolonged government shutdown which has in turn affected the proceedings involved with SEC. Van Eck’s response to CNBC network;

“We were engaged in discussions with the SEC about the bitcoin-related issues, custody, market manipulation, prices, and that had to stop. And so, instead of trying to slip through or something, we just had the application pulled and we will re-file when the SEC gets going again.”

US government shut down to blame?

The deputy secretary of SEC, Eduardo Aleman, did not give a reason as to why BZX has withdrawn from the proposal. However, with the report being just a few hours old, several experts in the digital economy in conjunction with security lawyers speculate that the concurrent impact of the US government shutting down may have a hand in altering the functions of SEC. Since there is an insufficient number of staff members on deck, SEC may lack the optimum resources to review the proposal.