The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received a lot of flak recently for declining every Bitcoin ETF application that comes its way. Most recently, the SEC declined nine ETF applications in one sitting – causing chaos in the crypto markets with almost every coin seeing red. This time around, the SEC wants things to be different and has called for additional comments from interested parties on 18 different aspects of the VenEck and SolidX Bitcoin ETF application.
Comments Galore
The SEC has already received hundreds of comments on the Bitcoin ETF application to date, but it clearly hasn’t got what it’s looking for. The majority of the comments provided to the SEC for this BTC ETF are mostly very simple and are along the lines of “please approve this Bitcoin ETF.” Comments like this don’t help the SEC in any way. Groups on Reddit have been encouraging people to spam email the SEC with this message in order to coerce it into approving the ETF, but it appears that tactic is actually having the opposite effect. The SEC is now calling out to actual investors for genuine and constructive comments on the ETF, rather than garbage spam.
Did Satoshi Make a Guest Appearance?
One comment – under the alias of “Anonymous” – appeared to stand out from the majority of the other comments. Rather than being a simple copy and paste message found on a Reddit thread, this message had some thought behind it and it didn’t necessarily ask for the ETF be approved. The anonymous user who signed off as “CEO of Bitcoin” said, “For the ETF to be approved SEC should remove the accredited investor restriction. It does not make sense in a market, the ETF is the market for those who do not trust the unregulated and actually unsafe Bitcoin Exchanges. Also more important is that a crowded actual market with no accredited investor restriction like the Stocks market is much harder to manipulate. If SEC keeps the accredited investor restriction I would prefer the ETF to not be approved for the above reason.”
Unfortunately, the real Satoshi didn’t actually make an appearance and this is just someone pretending to be the creator of Bitcoin. The vernacular used is completely different from that used in the original Bitcoin whitepaper. While the sentiment of the message is probably true to Satoshi’s beliefs, we didn’t see the real Satoshi comment on this Bitcoin ETF application.
Accredited Investors Only
One of the issues many investors are having with the Bitcoin ETF from VanEck and SolidX is the fact you have to be an accredited investor to buy into the ETF. This fact is bothering a large number of people within the crypto community, as Bitcoin was designed for everyone, not just the elite few. In the US, an accredited investor is a person with a net worth of over $1 million, an annual income of $200,000 or more for the past two years, or someone with an investor qualification.
Similarly to this ETF, First Block Capital recently launched the first Bitcoin regulated fund in Canada. First Block’s fund is also only open to accredited investors; however, in an exclusive interview with BitStarz News, Sean Clark – First Block Capital CEO – said it was working on a fund for all investors.
Could the Answer Finnaly be Yes?
First Block Capital has proved that regulation on a Bitcoin fund designed for accredited investors can be achieved. Both the First Block Capital Bitcoin fund and the VenEck BTC ETF share astonishing similarities, meaning there is a great chance that this ETF application could be approved. Both funds will go out and buy actual Bitcoins with investors funds, and when the investors wants to cash out, they will sell the NAV of the Bitcoins that investor holds. A nearly identical product has been approved in Canada, and the SEC shares a similar mentality with the Canadian Securities Commission – meaning we could see the SEC finally say yes.
While we can’t see into the future and give a definitive answer on what the SEC will say, the signs are looking positive for this BTC ETF. The SEC has been ruthless in its decisions lately and these decisions have left crypto markets reeling. If the SEC finally approves a BTC ETF, we could see the end of the bear market and a nice bull run towards the end of the year – similarly to 2017. All eyes are on the SEC for now, as it’s expected to make its decision in the next couple of weeks.
