I know everyone has been experiencing all sorts of emotions as we wait for official news from Dr D etc. I have previously posted about this topic. Again both exchanges do allow direct listing already. What NYSE filed with the SEC was for the rules to be further changed so the companies who go through this route can also raise capital. Before the rule for direct listing was for companies that didn’t need to raise capital. This wouldn’t be a good alternative to an IPO for newer less known or even smaller companies who needed to raise capital. And if you look on NYSE front page down where it says:

Optional Capital Raise (pending SEC approval)

Companies conducting Direct Listings on NYSE have the option to raise capital as part of their listing. This happens through a single order, which is executed as part of the opening auction.

Here is another article which tells why there is a stay on the approval for NYSE:

https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/09/13/or...ge-stayed/

So Dr D is not waiting for Nasdaq to get approval from SEC to uplist or direct list. We aren’t a new company looking to raise capital... we are already making money and thus can already uplist or direct list.