Comment from Leaked SEC Interview Raises Fresh Hopes Of A Bitcoin ETF Approval

SEC

A Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange has reportedly expressed a rare optimism towards the approval of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (Bitcoin ETF) in the United States.

Commissioner Robert J Jackson Jr. told interviewers that a bitcoin ETF will eventually be approved, according to Twitter user Drew Hinkes, who works with a blockchain firm Athena Blockchain.

Hinkes wrote:

“SEC Commissioner Jackson in an interview to be published next weeks is optimistic that a “fund based on bitcoin” will eventually be approved, expresses concern about the proposed ETFs submitted to date.”

He posted a transcript of the interview the commissioner had with Congressional Quarterly which was not expected to go public until February 11th. According to the interview transcript, Commissioner Jackson reportedly explained why getting an ETF approval was such a hurdle.

He explained:

“Getting the stamp of approval from the deepest and most liquid capital markets in the world is hard, and it should be. Once we put the stamp of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on an investment; once we make it available to everyday mom and pop investors, we are taking risks that Americans can get hurt.”

To date, the SEC has either rejected or postponed all Bitcoin ETF proposals made to the agency notably two different proposals by the popular Winklevoss twins who own Gemini crypto exchange.

As reported, CBOE recently withdrew its application for a bitcoin ETF backed by VanEcK and SolidX. VanEck CEO Jan van Eck later explained that they had to temporarily pull the proposal due to partial government shutdown which leaves the agency little time to review the application before February 27, 2019, when it must make a YES or NO decision. Van Eck says they plan to restart the process at a later date.

The approval of a bitcoin ETF is so important to the crypto community and many followers believe it would boost the market just like the CFTC approval of bitcoin futures preceded the bitcoin all-time high. The SEC has maintained it wants to protect investors against the volatility and unregulated nature of the cryptocurreny market.

While noting that the Winklevoss proposal did little to protect investors, he was positive that a proposal in the future could meet the SEC standards and therefore get approved.

He said:

“Eventually, do I think someone will satisfy the standards that we’ve laid out there? I hope so, yes, and I think so.”

Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.

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