A crypto lobbyist group is telling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its inconsistent policies render it difficult to create a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
In a new report, the Chamber of Digital Commerce says it’s time for the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF after it rejected numerous bids throughout the last few years to do so.
According to the lobbyist group, the SEC is biased in its mandates for approving Bitcoin ETFs as it forces firms toward Bitcoin futures ETFs, which it has shown it will approve.
“The SEC has imposed on the industry an unprecedented requirement unique only to Bitcoin, which requires that an applicant prove that price discovery on Bitcoin occurs on the CME [Chicago Mercantile Exchange], where futures contracts referencing Bitcoin trade, as opposed to on the major cryptocurrency trading venues such as Coinbase or Gemini.
The imposition of this requirement has no precedent, including with respect to other commodity-based ETFs approved by the SEC.”
The group goes on to say that if the SEC is left unchecked to create arbitrary rules, it could lead the US economy to a “dark place.”
“Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly probable that it will take litigation or focused efforts by Congress to break through the SEC’s increasingly arbitrary and unwarranted treatment of this important investment product.
Moreover, if the SEC’s ability to transform itself into a merit-based regulator goes unchecked, the future of innovation and capital raising in the United States will be dark indeed.”
The report also notes that because of the SEC’s refusal to approve a Bitcoin ETF, the US is falling behind other Western nations in terms of legalizing crypto products.
“The United States is falling behind. Regulators in Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Australia have allowed issuers in those countries to bring Bitcoin ETFs and other cryptocurrency exchange-traded products to market.”
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