The SEC decision for the Proshares Bitcoin ETF’s was made a day earlier. The decision was not very favorable for cryptocurrencies, as it was not just the Proshares ETF’s rejected but also seven other ETF’s from the list.

The ETF’s rejected include – two from Proshares, five from Direxion and two from GraniteShares.

What was the reason?

SEC stated-

“[T]he Commission is disapproving this proposed rule change because, as discussed below, the Exchange has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular, the requirement that a national securities exchange’s rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

The above statement is similar to the reason of rejection for the Winklevoss ETF, which was ‘fraud and manipulative acts and practices.’

The statement further added-

“Among other things, the Exchange has offered no record evidence to demonstrate that bitcoin futures markets are ‘markets of significant size.’ That failure is critical because, as explained below, the Exchange has failed to establish that other means to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices will be sufficient and therefore surveillance-sharing with a regulated market of significant size related to bitcoin is necessary.”

This statement highlights the fact that the Exchange has no recorded evidence to show that Bitcoin Futures is of significant size.

In all 9 cases, it stressed on-

“[The agency] emphasizes that its disapproval does not rest on an evaluation of whether bitcoin, or blockchain technology more generally, has utility or value as an innovation or an investment.”

The SEC this time blamed the Bitcoin Futures market rather than the fund that holds the Bitcoin directly.

Earlier in the week, Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopolous stated that Bitcoin ETF’s are a ‘terrible idea.’

Do you think the rejections will lead to a bloodbath of Bitcoin? Or do you agree with Andreas that it does not make a difference? Let us know!

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