Altcoin News: Bitwise: “We’re Closer Than We’ve Ever Been” to Bitcoin ETF Approval

October 8, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

The head of research at Bitwise Asset Management, which is currently awaiting the decision of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its application for the launch of the Bitcoin ETF, Matt Hougan is optimistic, despite the regulator’s previously doubts.

“We’re closer than we’ve ever been before to getting a bitcoin ETF approved,” he said in a conversation with CNBC. — “Sometime before Monday, the SEC has to give its decision: yes or no. They have no more ways to postpone it at this point,” Hougan said. “We will hear clearly between now and Monday what they think, and then, depending on what we hear, we’ll go forward from there. But it should be a very exciting week.”

Hougan claims that the Bitcoin market has undergone qualitative changes since the filing of the first applications for the ETF launch:

“The evolution of the bitcoin market over the last two years is from night to day,” he said, adding that some of the SEC’s chief concerns about approving a bitcoin ETF — mainly custody and proper regulation — are starting to get resolved. “Two years ago, there were no regulated, insured custodians in the bitcoin market. Today, … there are big names like Fidelity and CoinBase [with] hundreds of millions of dollars of insurance from firms like Lloyd’s of London,” he said. “Two years ago, there were no regulated crypto exchanges. Now, six of the 10 big crypto exchanges are regulated by the New York Department of State with market surveillance technologies in place. And, most importantly, two years ago, it was a one-sided, inefficient market. Today, we have $200-plus million in volume and regulated futures every day.”

Hougan hopes the approval of the Bitcoin ETF will provide retail investors with a safe, simple and secure tool to gain access to wealth-building that takes place in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

Earlier, SEC chairman Jay Clayton said that the authors of applications for the launch of Bitcoin ETF have yet to work to achieve a favorable attitude of the regulator while acknowledging that some progress in this direction is really visible.

Lawyer Jake Chervinsky expressed the opinion that sharp and often inexplicable fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin are the factor due to which the SEC cannot be sure of the absence of manipulations and, therefore, give permission to launch ETFs.

Author: Marko Vidrih