Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has doubled in value this year, moving from $4000 to above $8000. Meanwhile, the clock is currently ticking for approval on a new potential ETF, an offering by VanEck.
To date, no Bitcoin ETFs have begun trading, as last week the SEC delayed a decision on another Bitcoin ETF offering from Bitwise.
In a document released on Monday morning, the SEC revealed that it will be exercising its right to delay its decision by another 90 days, to August 19th. The document cited concerns like the prevention of “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices”, likely in reference to the recent Tether and Bitfinex imbroglio and the Bitstamp flash crash, which are concerning to the agency and speculators.
“People looked at cryptocurrency and said this market is a mess, that’s because they were looking at data that was manipulated,” said Matthew Hougan, global head of research at Bitwise. “When you cut away the echo chamber of these nonsense numbers, it should be an efficient, well-arbitraged market.”
“I think we are still gonna be here a few months,” explained Dave Nadig of ETF.com on CNBC.
“Certainly anyone who has filed an ETF has put hundreds of pages of documents back to the SEC, trying to close some of these gaps. But, based on the comments we saw last week around a lot of these filings, it’s clear the SEC is still in information gathering mode, not like, let’s head to the table and make a decision.”
“And they [the SEC]can do what they want. They can kick this can down the road until they are ready,” Nadig added. “I think things are pointing towards a positive resolution for Bitcoin bulls. But I don’t think it’s imminent. I still think we are at least a quarter out…I think there is still a reasonable chance for this year.”
“Most of the scary stories have really been around exchanges, not around custody. That gets to sort of where these things are going to be traded and how prices are derived. Those concerns, I think, are also being well-addressed… as the market matures, the regulators will get more comfortable,” Nadig explained.
While an ETF related to bitcoin or any other digital currency still does not exist in the U.S., a recent survey by Bitwise Asset Management indicates plenty of U.S. investors would use such a vehicle to access the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
“58% of American investors would prefer to invest in Bitcoin via an exchange-traded fund (ETF), a formal survey found,” according to NewsBTC.
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