We’re closer to a bitcoin ETF, but ‘not all the way there yet’: CIO

Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds are closer than ever to changing into a actuality, but approval continues to be a methods away, one market analyst says.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is presently reviewing VanEck’s second proposal for a bitcoin ETF. Officials now have roughly two weeks to resolve whether or not to approve, reject or lengthen their evaluation window.

Even with Coinbase’s direct listing reinvigorating curiosity in the cryptocurrency market, potential bitcoin ETF issuers will nonetheless face obstacles, says Bitwise Asset Management chief funding officer Matt Hougan.

“The crypto trade … has gone by this huge institutional maturation. Every facet of it has improved considerably over the previous 5 years, over the previous three years and over the previous yr. Coinbase going public is simply one other a part of that narrative,” he instructed CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

“So, completely, we’re getting closer to a bitcoin ETF. I proceed to suppose it is a matter of when and never if, but we’re not all the way there but,” he stated. “The SEC has been asking good questions and firms like Bitwise and others have been working to deal with these. But I do suppose we’re getting closer.”

The nomination of Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs govt who taught a class on cryptocurrencies and blockchain at MIT, to lead the SEC might push issues ahead, Hougan stated.

“I believe it helps in that it is a new administration, a new, recent set of priorities and that he is an skilled on this house, but I do not suppose there’s any magic sauce,” the CIO stated.

“The market has to be ok, has to be institutional sufficient, has to be mature sufficient to assist an ETF earlier than the SEC greenlights one. But the excellent news is I do suppose we’re closer to that time right this moment than we have been in the previous, and I actually suppose we’re getting there.”

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