The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its ruling yet again for a proposed Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) submitted by investment firm VanEck.
According to the announcement issued on Monday, the decision to delay marks the third such postponement by the SEC, which has yet to determine whether it should approve or ultimately reject the Bitcoin ETF proposed by the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin Trust, which initially submitted its proposal last year.
The proposal was withdrawn in January amid the government shutdown and then delayed in March when the SEC requested more time and feedback from the public.
Earlier this month, the SEC also opted to delay its decision on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.
Gabor Gurbacs, digital asset strategist and director at VanEck/MVIS, tweeted to his followers on Monday,
“Historically, the regulator’s job was to review if product disclosures are appropriate. Then the market decides if it wants the product or not. Today, it feels like regulators are playing god & decide on the merits of products. That’s not their job.”
Although the revised deadline for the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF is August 19, crypto insiders are monitoring Bitcoin’s resurgence since the start of the year and are less inclined to believe that a regulated ETF is crucial to the success of the cryptosphere – and not so sure that the SEC will actually make its decision by August.
Attorney Jake Chervinsky, who focuses on government enforcement defense and securities litigation involving digital assets and blockchain technology, speculates that the SEC will delay yet again, turning in a decision by the final deadline of October 18.
As expected, the SEC has delayed the VanEck bitcoin ETF proposal. Read the order here: https://t.co/OB3TBgVGwg.
VanEck's new deadline is August 19. The SEC can & likely will delay one more time for a final deadline of October 18.
Looks like this ended up the right explanation: https://t.co/bkzeVRt1Hg
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 20, 2019
Andy Bromberg, co-founder of CoinList, an investment advisory services firm for blockchain and crypto projects, says that the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF is simply no longer crucial.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance on Monday, Bloomberg explains that the industry has moved into a new phase.
“I’m not sure the Bitcoin ETF matters as much anymore. We’re increasingly seeing that retail brokerages are going to offer Bitcoin to their clients. Once you see that, once you see this widespread adoption, you don’t necessarily need the ETF anymore.”
The Commission is continuing its measured pursuit of understanding the space and all of its players and complexities, having also issued a delayed decision on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF earlier this month.
The SEC has laid out an extensive series of questions for the public, asking for more comments to help inform its decision. Here are some of the questions.
“In particular, the Commission seeks comment on the following questions and asks commenters to submit data where appropriate to support their views: 1. What are commenters’ views on whether the Exchange has entered into a surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market of significant size related to bitcoin? What are commenters’ views of the Exchange’s assertion that the trading volume in bitcoin futures makes the market for bitcoin futures a regulated market of significant size related to bitcoin?”
“What are commenters’ views on the size, liquidity, transparency, number and nature of market participants, and price discovery in the OTC market for bitcoin, both on an absolute basis and relative to the bitcoin spot market as a whole? What are commenters’ views on whether the volume of U.S. dollar trading of bitcoin – which excludes bitcoin trading against other sovereign currencies or digital assets – is a meaningful or appropriate measure of bitcoin market volume?”
To read the full list of questions, click here.
To submit your comments to the SEC, click here.
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