Cryptocurrency has been in the news a lot lately as Bitcoin has been growing exponentially in recent months. Back in March, the SEC denied a proposed ETF covering Bitcoin, but they have since agreed to etf.com/sections/features-and-news/bitcoin-flying-etf-gets-second-shot?nopaging=1">review a petition made by the operator of the exchange that the ETF would trade from.
Spencer Bogart, managing director and head of research for Blockchain Capital, is skeptical that the SEC will change its tune on the bitcoin ETF."Their reason for disapproval was the underlying markets for bitcoin, which haven't changed in the weeks since they made their decision,” he said. “One of the issues was that Bats hadn't set up surveillance-sharing agreements with the major exchanges on which bitcoin is traded, with the purpose of identifying and stomping out market manipulation. Even if they did, a lot of those exchanges reside in jurisdictions that don't have much of a regulatory body that can go and take action against people that are doing something bad to the market."
The idea here is to allow investors to buy cryptocurrency through a regulated product, which seems to be counterintutive to the core concept of Bitcoin; crytocurrency is notable for having a black box of sorts around it, so I don't imagine the SEC will ever actually be fine with it. Do you guys think the ETF would have any shot of being approved? Even if it was, I don't think it would become an inherently safer investment, it would just be more liquid.
