Bitcoin-ETF delay deprives the US economy of billions of dollars

Many cryptocurrency investors and entrepreneurs have anxiously awaited a green light from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). A bitcoin ETF would bring more products to Wall Street and give institutional investors more direct access to an asset class they are clearly very enthusiastic about in 2019.

Crypto capitalists like Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss even say they welcome the scrutiny of the SEC as well as institutional and federal regulation and oversight. Fox Business has an exclusive interview with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, in which the SEC chair defended his position on cryptocurrency. Clayton says he is not against digital currencies but “has concerns over the potential for manipulation and wants to ensure investors are protected.”

The SEC chair also says: “What I’m concerned about at the moment is if it can be reasonably demonstrated that the underlying trading is generally not manipulated, it’s happening on reliable venues with good rules and that custody is something we can feel comfortable about.”

Despite being in what people are calling a “crypto winter” since what was the bitcoin all-time high price peak in Dec 2017, investment demand for bitcoin has remained voracious. That’s why so much money is flowing through the exchange of bitcoin right now that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, paid dividends out of its profits last year to the tune of half a billion dollars to users of its trading token, binance coin. By dragging its feet on the first bitcoin ETF, the SEC is leaving money on the table for Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao to scoop up instead of a Wall Street broker.

SEC Chases Billions out of US Economy by Dragging Feet on Bitcoin ETF, CCN, Mar 18