It’s Thursday, which means another deadline for a Bitcoin ETF application within the SEC has approached. In a shocking turn of events (I’m joking), the SEC has rejected the ETF, putting this one at the end of a long list of failed and lost ETF applications.

According to CNBC:

“Similar to its rejection of the Winklevoss ETF, the SEC expressed concern about fraud and manipulation of bitcoin markets. It said that NYSE Arca, which filed the ProShares application, had not met its requirement that a national securities exchange's rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices. Among other things, the Exchange has offered no record evidence to demonstrate that bitcoin futures markets are markets of significant size.”

As stated, this is a part of a longer series of rejections made by the SEC, simply put, they won’t budge and aren’t happy to approve any cryptocurrency ETFs. The problem seems to be the lack of regulation within the industry and the uncertainty that is caused by volatility. Each time an ETF is disapproved, the SEC seem to reiterate that they aren’t making these decisions because of questions surrounding cryptocurrency, but honestly, we can’t see any other reason why they would be constantly rejecting these ETFs. It has to be down to the fact that the SEC are unsure about cryptocurrencies and nothing more.

We have lots more of this to look forward too, with plenty of ETF deadlines due in September, including the deadline for the recent VanEck SolidX Bitcoin ETF that caused a stir at the start of August. According to CNBC:

“While the SEC has yet to approve a cryptocurrency-based ETF, other applications are still in front of the agency, including an ETF that would track a basket of cryptocurrencies that was filed in July by Bitwise, and the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust. The SEC announced it was delaying a decision on approval or disapproval of the VanEck ETF until Sept. 30.”

No, the markets will continue to exist without a Bitcoin ETF, but Bitcoin ETFs will do great things for institutional investment so it’s a two-sided argument as many will consider that without ETFs in place, the markets won’t be able to continue to progress. Either way, when September comes with so many deadlines in place, hopefully we will see some changes made in this area.