Grayscale, 21Shares, a16z, and other major players in the crypto space have gone public with a call for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to speed up ETF application reviews and overhaul its regulatory procedures. In its comment, Grayscale proposed letting issuers submit confidential draft filings for exchange-traded products before going public, arguing this would cut down on competitors copying or cloning applications. The firm also wants SEC staff to stick to a strict 45-day deadline to respond to issuer requests.

What Grayscale Wants to Change

The main pitch: allow closed-door, pre-public submission of ETF materials. Grayscale believes this would lower the risk of parallel or copycat filings and reduce market noise around products that aren't finalized yet. The company is also pushing for a clear communication timeline with the SEC—specifically, a 45-day response window for all inquiries.

21Shares' Take and a16z's Backing

21Shares echoed much of what Grayscale suggested, backing the idea of confidential filings and fixed response times from the SEC. a16z is also named among those supporting faster procedures and tweaks to the registration process.

Why the ETF Market Cares

These moves are all about cutting down on duplicate filings and making issuer-regulator interactions more predictable. Confidential drafts would help keep product innovation under wraps until launch, while guaranteed SEC response times would make it easier for issuers to plan their timelines. What happens next depends on which suggestions the SEC decides to actually implement.