Today, on January 9, ProShares, Raffety Assets Management and VanEck withdraw their Bitcoin SEC ETF proposals, at the request of the regulator. Rafferty Assets Management commented that the SEC "expressed concerns about the liquidity and valuation" of the underlying asset.

None of the withdrawn proposals was actually a Bitcoin ETF, in itself. A true Bitcoin ETF is widely regarded as the holy grail of traditional financial acceptance because it would require the purchase of real Bitcoins in order to "support" investments in the ETF. All the proposals withdrawn today related to the Bitcoin futures markets. Nevertheless, the proposed ETFs had been welcomed by the Bitcoin community, who saw them as a stepping stone to a true Bitcoin ETF.

The Optimism Contested

Indeed, Bitcoin investors thought they had reasons to be optimistic following the exit of Bitcoin's regulated futures markets last month. By rejecting the Winklevoss ETF proposal early last year, the SEC specifically left the door open for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF in the event that regulated futures markets would be created. The reluctance of the SEC to consider ETFs on the basis of these futures markets is certainly a concern.

Nevertheless, it is wise to remember that the regulatory wheel is slowly turning. Chris Concannon, CEO of Cboe, told Business Insider last month: