Months after a “drop gold” campaign run by pro-Bitcoin executives, a former World Gold Council leader is proposing a Bitcoin ETF.
The exchange traded fund is viewed as a holy grail to some Bitcoin traders, who would like to see the product offered as a way to legitimize cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin ETF Still A Ways Off
An ETF could also have the effect of forcing markets to be more honest in order to be taken seriously by traders.
One of the reasons for ETF rejections cited by regulators is a lack of honest market data.
Many crypto exchanges report false volume, among other problems.
False volume and price manipulation are both matters that regulators would like to see properly handled. Before giving the green light to a Bitcoin ETF, these and other issues must be examined more closely.
Despite all of the above problems, Jason Toussaint, who formerly headed up a division of the World Gold Council and managed SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), believes that the prospects for a Bitcoin ETF are strong. Toussaint told CoinDesk:
“The benefits and challenges, when it comes to bitcoin as an asset class, are similar to what they were when the Gold Council brought SPDR Gold Shares to the market. There was also a lot of learning the SEC had to go through to fully understand and gain a level of comfort with the underlined gold market.”
Gold bugs and Bitcoin believers often clash, with the former believing the latter are falling for fool’s gold.
On The Heels of Bitwise Rejection, Kryptoin Files For New Bitcoin ETF
Bitcoiners believe that BTC represents a superior form of gold, with a guaranteed fixed supply and the ability to easily transact and divide.
Gold bug Peter Schiff often denigrates Bitcoin, but recently asked people to stop calling him a “hater.”
People need to stop referring to me as a "Bitcoin hater." I don't hate Bitcoin. There is nothing there for me to hate. I just don't believe that #Bitcoin will work as money, and that people who are betting that it will are going to lose a lot of theirs. Just buy #gold instead!
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 23, 2019
People of his particular belief set feel that only “hard” — or metal — money can possibly matter.
The Kryptoin ETF is far from the first effort. Other firms have repeatedly tried and failed. Regulators have said over and again that things will have to change with the wider cryptocurrency industry before an ETF will be viable. Nevertheless, firms keep trying.
A San Francisco-based firm called Bitwise filed an application earlier this year citing only 5% of the overall reported volume of cryptocurrency exchanges, acknowledging that the vast majority of such data could be unreliable.
Earlier this month, Bitwise’s application was denied, which gives little hope for the efforts of Kryptoin.
