The SEC is expected to issue its ruling on Bitwise’s ETF application on or before October 14, 2019.
Bitwise Asset Management Global Head of Research Matt Hougan said Bitwise had been engaged in extensive dialogue with the SEC this year regarding its bitcoin ETF filing.
“We’ve filed more than 500 pages of research in support of our application, and have received supportive comment letters from Blockchain Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Cole-Frieman & Mello, Donostia Ventures, Coinbase Custody, Collaborative Fund, Blockchain Association, Omniex, and Tagomi,” Hougan told ETF Trends.
Throughout the process, Hougan said they have been impressed by how engaged and informed the Commission has been, asking great questions that have driven them to dig deep into the state of the market.
“Over the past two weeks, we have had meetings with multiple Commissioners about the state of the bitcoin market, and on Thursday met with the SEC staff about our filing specifically,” he said. “In the Commissioner meetings, which focused on the overall market and not our filing specifically, we provided data exploring how much the market has evolved in the past few years.”
Hougan said the bitcoin market of today is not the same market as it was in 2017.
“Custody has improved dramatically, arbitrage between markets has improved dramatically, and the launch and growth of the CME futures market has been a game-changer,” he said. “Today’s bitcoin market operates at a level of institutional efficiency.”
The presentation that Bitwise delivered to the SEC staff on September 12 recently was published in full on the SEC’s website earlier today. It provided an update on how the data and market has evolved since Bitwise first met with the staff about their application in March. You can view the presentation in its entirety here.