On February 26, Commissioner Hester Peirce of the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a dissent to the SEC’s decision to reject a proposed rule change from NYSE Arca that would have allowed it to list shares of an exchange-traded fund backed by bitcoin and US Treasury bills. In her dissent, Commissioner Peirce argued that the SEC “applies a unique, heightened standard” to filings related to digital assets that departs from the plain language of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Based on past SEC decisions, Commissioner Peirce expressed a concern that the SEC “is unwilling to approve the listing of any product that would provide access to the market for bitcoin and that no filing will meet the ever-shifting standards that this Commission insists on applying to bitcoin-related products.”

The SEC order disapproving the proposed NYSE Arca rule change is available here. Commissioner Peirce’s dissent is available here.