Dec 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal from Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the world's largest digital currency manager.

In a notice https://bit.ly/3J13TiK dated Wednesday, the markets regulator said it now expects to review Grayscale's proposal by Feb. 6, later than the original December deadline.

In October, Grayscale, which has over $45 billion of cryptocurrency assets under management, had said it plans to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a spot bitcoin ETF.

The first U.S. bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund also began trading that month https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-nears-record-high-ahead-futures-etf-listing-2021-10-19, taking bitcoin's price to a six-month high. However, the cryptocurrency has since eased and it is currently trading below $50,000. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)