Matt Hougan, Global Head of Research at Bitwise Investments, considers that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is more receptive about a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF than last year. 

At the same time, he mentioned that he thinks we are closer than what we have ever been before to get a Bitcoin ETF approved. Mr. Hougan said that during a recent interview with CNBC. 

Will The SEC Approve A Bitcoin ETF?

The SEC has to give a final answer to the proposal made by Bitwise Asset Management to launch the first Bitcoin ETF in the market. The final decision should be taken before October 14. 

This comes after the Cboe BZX Exchange decision to withdraw its VanEck/SolidX bitcoin exchange-traded fund proposal. Bitwise announced that BNY Mellon would be acting as the transfer agent for its ETF. 

According to Mr. Hougan, there are some reasons why the SEC is more receptive about a Bitcoin ETF than in the past. 

One of these reasons is related to the fact that two years ago there were no regulated insured custodians in the Bitcoin market and now there are almost 10. 

Some of these companies include Coinbase or Fidelity with hundreds of millions of insurance from firms like Lloyds of London. Thus, he considers custody is a topic that is now solved in the crypto market.

He continued by talking about exchanges. Hougan said that six of the ten big crypto exchanges are regulated by the New York Department of State with market surveillance technology.

Moreover, two years ago there was a one-sided inefficient market while today there are $200+ million dollars in regulated futures every single day. 

In addition to it, Matt Hougan commented:

“Is not just the work Bitwise did, but just the evolution of the Bitcoin market in the last two years is from night to day and that’s why I think we are closer than what we have ever been before to get a Bitcoin ETF approved.”

Furthermore, he said that market surveillance and market quality are the issues regulators are going to be focusing on. This is why Bitwise has presented many research papers showing how the market has evolved and improved over the last two years. 

Furthermore, he explained that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are one of the most exciting wealth-generation opportunities in the world. Bitcoin is the best performing asset over the last 5 years, something that many consider that will continue. 

However, large institutions and regular investors are not able to have access to this market. Indeed, the current solutions seem to be limited. This is why an ETF would help many individuals and companies in the world have access to the leading cryptocurrency.

Although Bitwise considers it is possible to get a Bitcoin ETF approved, it is important to understand that the final decision comes down to the views of the regulators and how they consider this market is evolving.