As the entire crypto community is eagerly awaiting the news on bitcoin ETF approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amidst a yet another market slump, the biggest investment company in Canada has had a say on the matter as well.

Canaccord, a wealth management firm with over $5 billion assets under its belt, has released an official report, labeled ‘Blockchain and Digital Assets: US Equity Research‘. The 20-page study discusses recent key developments in the digital asset industry and takes an in-depth look into four of the most popular coins: bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin.

More importantly, the report, compiled by analysts Michael Graham and Scott Suh, discusses the hotly debated topic of bitcoin ETF, specifically the CBOE proposal, which is aiming to introduce the financial product in tandem with money manager VanEck and crypto startup SolidX.

Unfortunately for those, who are expecting another crypto market surge towards the end of the year, the company believes the SEC will delay the decision as much as they can, with the deadline set for March 2019. The report states that, “Although the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust, seen by many as the most formidable candidate for a potential approval, is due for a potential decision as early as this month, it is largely believed that the SEC will extend its deadline, in which case a decision may not be made until March 2019.“

However, the analysts went on to add that there are some similar bitcoin products that have flown under the radar of crypto investors, as, “Meanwhile, we note that other bitcoin-based securities (e.g., Bitcoin Tracker One) have been available for trading on regulated exchanges as early as May 2015 in Sweden, while north of the border, Canada is working towards its own bitcoin ETF product, the Evolve Bitcoin ETF.“

Historically, the SEC has been conservative towards ETFs for emerging assets and commodities. There have already been two rejected applications for the bitcoin ETF already – one from the Winklevoss brothers this year and one from SolidX in 2017. Despite such negative precedent, the VanEck-SolidX bitcoin ETF proposal is seen by many as the best shot of introducing the new product to the market.

Canaccord has also noted that numerous recent crypto developments have helped to legitimize the industry in the eyes of institutional investors and the demand for crypto will likely grow among them. The researchers claimed that, “The arrival of a potential bitcoin ETF remains top of mind for institutional investors seeking exposure to this emerging asset class, and there are now multiple applications pending approval by the SEC, most notably that proposed by Van Eck/SolidX. In addition, institutional custody continues to make progress, as Ledger announced a partnership with Nomura and Global Advisors during the Consensus conference in May and Coinbase launched its institutional custody product in early July.“

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