SEC Chairman Clayton shows concern about Bitcoin ETF

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has always been concerned about the use of Bitcoin and anything related to it. This time the market has taken a step forward to address the concerns to gain the approval for a bitcoin ETF(exchange-traded fund).

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton spoke to CNBC on Monday where he mentioned how progress can be seen in the crypto space which will allow a bitcoin ETF to launch but still there are concerns regarding this decision.

He further mentioned that people do trades on mostly unregulated exchanges and the biggest concern is that no one is sure on how the prices work and they can be a subject to significant manipulation. The SEC and people needed answers to such questions and explanation for such concerns to be comfortable with the things.

Clayton’s remarks came just a few weeks before the approval or rejection of a pair of bitcoin ETF proposals will be ruled out by SEC. Bitwise Asset Management is one of the firms that filed a proposal with NYSE Arca. They published several reports over the year to convince SEC that the market is mature enough to support such a product.

VanEck/SolidX along with Cboe BZX submitted the other proposal which was filed in 2018 became a strong contender for the first bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC. SEC postponed the decisions on both ETF proposals, but a deadline of 13th October has been given for Bitwise and 18th October for VanEck/SolidX.

VanEck, however, has begun offering shares of its VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust to institutional buyers who are qualified with the help of an exemption under the SEC’s rules.