Creating a Bitcoin ETF has been a priority for many influential crypto players for months already (maybe more). But the road to an ETF has been almost as hard as Frodo’s road to Mordor.
Ric Edelman’s opinion
But Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, appeared earlier today at CNBC’s ETF Edge at the Inside ETFs Conference in Hollywood, Florida. He had this to say on the subject:
“It’s virtually certain. The only question is when” then he continued: “The SEC has several legitimate thoughtful concerns that the industry has to overcome but I’m confident they will. Eventually, we will see a bitcoin ETF and it’s at that stage that I will be much more comfortable recommending that ordinary investors participate.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been walking with led shoes on the subject of cryptocurrencies. Are some of them securities? Are some of them actual money? And how can you tell the difference? Should these assets be available for the market at large?
And how should they be regulated? SEC has provided us with some answers to those questions, but some questions still remain, and they are getting on the way of mainstream adoption.
SEC’s decisions will be important because Bitcoin still lacks a secure chain of custody (in traditional terms, in practical terms, Bitcoin’s blockchain is most likely much safer than the traditional mechanisms).
On the other hand, SEC’s decisions will apply to the US only, which is not that important in crypto compared with Japan, China or Korea, so it will have no way of affecting international price flows or to governate trading platforms based overseas.
The big boys are interested
Mr. Edelman also explained that major financial institutions are interested in finding a solution that enables them to get a piece of the crypto action, and that could be enough for an ETF to go online eventually. The market is already there.
“We’ve got some serious players. Fidelity has made a major announcement in the custody issue. We’ve got Kingdom Trust and a number of other very serious players on the custody side. I’m confident that in very short order VanEck or Bitwise will satisfy the custody concern to the SEC,” according to Mr. Edelman.
Tom Lyndon has an opinion too
Tom Lydon, who is ETFTrends.com editor-in-chief joined the conversation to add that he already sees a huge demand for something like a Bitcoin ETF.
“There is pent-up demand. We interview advisors all the time. Seventy-four percent say they’ve talked to clients about their interests in bitcoin, so they need to step up when this happens because that money is going to go elsewhere,” Lydon contributed.
VanEck and SolidX are trying to get an SEC authorization to come up with the world’s first Bitcoin ETF. But they withdrew their application because Trump’s government shutdown could complicate things too much to get a resolution in time.
And why does any of that matters to you or me? Because many experts agree on something: the next bull run in crypto will be driven, at least partially, by institutional investors. So far, crypto’s players are small investors for the most part, and an ETF would be one of the ingredients that could change the market for good.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.
