The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that it has begun proceedings to decide whether to approve a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The SEC published an "order instituting proceedings to determine whether to approve or disapprove a proposed rule change" filed by Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. If approved, Cboe would have the green light to list a bitcoin ETF pitched earlier this year by money management firm VanEck and crypto startup SolidX.

As part of that process, the SEC wants more input from the public – to date, according to the agency, more than 1,400 comments have been submitted.