The topic of
an SEC-approved Bitcoin ETF is among the most discussed ones within the
cryptocurrency community. While the Commission has already turned down many
applications, the one that everyone has its sights on was submitted by Cboe and
proposed by VanEck and SolidX. More recently, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has said
that a Bitcoin ETF is possible, but there’s more work to do.
Bitcoin
ETF Possible
Speaking on
CNBC, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton,
said that it’s possible that a Bitcoin ETF will be approved.
There have
already been plenty of rejections from the Commission on numerous propositions,
as well as many delays.
Many tend to
believe that an approval of a Bitcoin ETF by the SEC would catapult the Bitcoin
price to new heights.
Yet, per the
latest ruling, interested parties had to submit written arguments on 14
different topics in order to provide further clarity on the matter.
It’s unclear
whether the outcome will be any different this time, given the fact that some
of the main concerns seemingly persist. These include price manipulation as
well as the unregulated nature of many existing exchanges.
There’s
Work Left to Be Done
After noting
that a Bitcoin ETF approval is possible, the Chairman noted that there’s still
plenty of work to be done.
“But there’s work left to be done. Those were not
trivial questions. How do we know that we can custody and have a hold of those
crypto assets? That’s a key question. And an even harder question, given that
they trade on largely unregulated exchanges. How can we be sure that those
prices aren’t a subject of significant manipulation? Progress is being made but
people needed to answer those hard questions for us to be comfortable that this
was the appropriate type of product.”
Last year, the SEC turned down
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’s application for a Bitcoin ETF. Back then, one of
the commissioners on the panel, Hester M. Peirce, publicly voiced her concerns.
She said that the approach of the
Commission “undermines investor protection by precluding greater
institutionalization of the bitcoin market.” Furthermore, she said that the
Commission “signals an aversion to innovation that may convince entrepreneurs
that they should take their ingenuity to other sectors of our economy, or to
foreign markets, where their talents will be welcomed with more enthusiasm.”
In any case, we have a bit more
than a month to wait until the SEC votes again on the VanEck/SolidX
proposition.
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