The SEC asked the crypto industry what it thinks about regulating novel ETFs. The crypto industry had thoughts.
Grayscale Investments, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) have each submitted comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to its Request for Comment on Novel ETFs, published June 30, 2026. The collective message: don’t treat every new exchange-traded product like it’s the same animal, because they’re not.
The three organizations are pushing the SEC to preserve its existing classification frameworks for exchange-traded products rather than applying a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach.
What the comment letters actually say
Grayscale, which operates one of the largest digital asset fund platforms by assets under management, has a direct commercial interest in how this shakes out. The firm has launched multiple digital asset ETPs, including GBTC and ETHE, and its Digital Large Cap Fund tracks a basket of crypto assets including Bitcoin and Ether.
a16z, which has previously submitted detailed comment letters on crypto regulatory frameworks, approached the issue from a broader innovation perspective.
CCI, the trade group that counts some of crypto’s largest companies among its members, framed the argument around competitiveness. If the SEC groups all novel ETPs under restrictive umbrella rules, the pipeline of new products slows to a crawl while other jurisdictions move ahead.
All three entities proposed that differentiated review processes could actually lead to faster approvals without sacrificing investor protections.
The regulatory backdrop
In 2025, the SEC approved generic listing standards for qualifying commodity-based ETPs, a move that streamlined the approval process for certain digital asset products. That decision removed the need for individual rule-change filings for products that fit within established parameters.
Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund was among the beneficiaries of that more accommodating posture.
The SEC’s June 2026 Request for Comment signaled that the agency is reconsidering how it handles the next wave of ETPs.