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Rumors of bitcoin ETF approval have been swirling across the crypto industry for the past year. Today, yet another SEC commissioner is predicting that a bitcoin ETF will eventually be approved.
The news comes from Congressional Quarterly, which claims that SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson Jr. is in favor of bitcoin ETF approval.
Congressional Quarterly is expected to release their next issue on February 11.
“A fund based on bitcoin will eventually pass muster at the Securities and Exchange Commission despite that agency’s actions to deny all previous efforts, predicts Robert J. Jackson Jr., the lone Democratic commissioner at the agency.”
The report details an interview between Congressional Quarterly and Jackson where he described how the SEC will eventually approve a bitcoin ETF.
In other words, it’s not a matter of if the SEC will approve a bitcoin ETF – it’s a matter of when.
“Eventually, do I think someone will satisfy the standards that we’ve laid out there? I hope so, yes, and I think so.”
Jackson explained that a number of cryptocurrency-based applications are awaiting a decision from the SEC. However, Jackson did not comment on which specific proposal stands the highest likelihood of SEC approval.
In July 2018, the SEC rejected a proposal by Bats BZX Exchange Inc. to list and trade shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, one of the most promising ETFs to make its way through the regulatory system. The Winklevoss twins had previously submitted the fund proposal to the SEC, then altered the proposal after receiving recommendations from the agency. Despite implementing those recommendations, the ETF was still rejected.
Today, a handful of other bitcoin ETFs continue to seek SEC approval. Last week, Cboe re-submitted the bitcoin ETF proposal from VanEck and SolidX. That ETF, initially proposed last summer, is seen as the most promising ETF in the industry. The deadline for approval was initially set at February. Due to the government shutdown, however, the ETF was re-submitted, pushing its deadline back until later this year.
Why does SEC Commissioner Jackson feel that a bitcoin ETF will be approved? Previous ETF denials have occurred due to the SEC’s fears of market manipulation and unreliable price discovery in the industry.
However, bitcoin ETFs have started to fight back against the notion that bitcoin markets can be manipulated:
“The BZX exchange argued that bitcoin markets are inherently difficult to manipulate. But the SEC found that the proposal doesn’t establish the kind of surveillance common in stock markets, and the commissioners also were concerned with the lack of liquidity in certain bitcoin markets, their trading volume and the ability to safeguard proprietary information.”
SEC Commissioner Jackson has backup among his colleagues. Last year, Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce made friends with the entire crypto industry by coming out in favor of a bitcoin ETF. At the time, Peirce was the only SEC Commissioner publicly in favor of an ETF.
Other SEC Commissioners, meanwhile, have not clarified their stance on a bitcoin ETF.
Will a bitcoin ETF be approved? SEC Commissioner Jackson certainly seems to think so – and he is one of the few people in America who has a vote in the matter.
Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP (Ripple), and BCH Coin Price Watch (Feb 6th)
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