tl;dr
VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have requested the US SEC to reinstate a queue-based review system for exchange-traded product approvals, ensuring approvals are granted in the order filings are received. They argue that the current concurrent approval process undermines the first-mover advantag...
VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have formally petitioned the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reinstate a queue-based review system for exchange-traded product (ETP) approvals. The firms advocate for approvals to be granted strictly in the order that filings are received, restoring the first-mover advantage traditionally held by early applicants.
Since October 2021, the SEC has moved away from this queue approach, notably when the ProShares Bitcoin Futures Fund gained a three-day head start, securing over 90% of the market share. More recently, spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals cleared on the same date, despite widely staggered filing submissions. This concurrent approval process, the petitioners argue, favors larger issuers with broader distribution networks, encourages copycat filings, and concentrates assets with established brands, effectively undermining market integrity.
The letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins, signed by Jan van Eck (VanEck CEO), Steve McClurg (Canary Capital CEO), and Duncan Moir (21Shares President), highlights that this departure from filing-date priority discourages smaller sponsors and disincentivizes original research taking early risks. They stress that restoring the filing-date principle would preserve predictability and fairness in ETF review timelines without imposing additional burdens on SEC staff.
VanEck’s digital assets research chief Matt Sigel has previously voiced concerns that ignoring queue order violates transparency standards and places undue update costs on early filers. Canary Capital’s Steve McClurg reinforced this message at the Litecoin Summit, indicating a formal appeal is underway. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that the first-to-file system was standard until the 2024 launches of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
The coalition’s call for fairness and market integrity invites a broader discussion on how regulatory processes can balance innovation, competition, and equitable access in the rapidly evolving ETF landscape.