Reggie Browne, who is also referred to as the godfather of Exchange Traded Funds, said that an ETF for bitcoin would be accepted “no time soon”, according to the news outlet, Business Insider.

Who is the godfather of ETFs?

Reggie Browne is a senior managing director and head of ETF trading at financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The company was founded in 1945 and focuses on institutional equity, fixed income sales, and trading. According to the company they have over 5 000 institutional clients which include areas as investment banking, asset management, prime brokerage and commercial real estate. The company has offices in 32 cities all over the world and covers Europe, Asia, America, Ireland and Canada.

Recently, Browne spoke at Georgetown University’s Financial Markets Quality Conference in Washington D.C., and stated that a bitcoin ETF would not be approved before the development of a strong regulatory framework is in place in the industry. Regarding the current state of a bitcoin ETF approval Browne explained:

“It’s very difficult for the [Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)] to wrap their heads around a positive approval because there’s no data yet … the markets just aren’t here.”

What is happening with Exchange Traded Funds at the moment?

The godfather of ETFs is not the only one expressing concerns of that the cryptocurrency market is not ready for an ETF. CNBC reported on November 1st that the worlds largest asset manager BlackRock will not offer a cryptocurrency ETF until the industry is legitimate. According to the CEO, Larry Fink, the industry is not ready yet, and until this is the case, no EFT will be launched.

“I wouldn’t say never, when it’s legitimate, yes,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said at the New York Times DealBook Conference in Manhattan Thursday. He added: “It will ultimately have to be backed by a government,” said the CEO of BlackRock, which oversees approximately $6.4 trillion of assets. “I don’t sense that any government will allow that unless they have a sense of where that money’s going for tax evasion and all of these other issues.”

The Security and Exchange Commision has also shared its concern regarding an ETF. An ETF is yet to be approved, and even though many have tried, no one has succeeded so far. The ETFs that has been appöoed for has not offered enough security for clients until this is the case, no ETFs will be approved, according to the SEC.

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