It seems that the chances of having a Bitcoin ETF approved by February 2019 have been reduced to 10%. This is according to Jake Chervinsky, a legal expert that predicted the delay of the VanEck, SolidX Bitcoin ETF proposal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Jake Chervinsky Says ‘ETF is in Trouble’
In a recent series of Tweets, Jake Chervinsky says that the Bitcoin ETF is in trouble. He gave different reasons why he thinks that the regulatory agency will not approve a Bitcoin ETF in February 2019. However, VanEck and SolidX have done excellent work this year, says Mr. Chervinsky.
One of the most important issues for the SEC is related to market manipulation. The regulatory agency wants to know if CBOE BZX had a surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market. This is one of the main issues for the SEC because the ETF proposed by the Winklevoss twins was rejected back in 2018 because of this.
Commissioner Hester Peirce did not agree with the decision taken by the SEC. Nevertheless, she mentioned that it ‘contributes to further delay’ of the cryptocurrency market’s maturation.
The legal expert commented on this issue:
“The SEC’s problem is that it doesn’t have jurisdiction over crypto exchanges, so it can’t force them to provide the information it needs to identify & prosecute manipulation (like spoofing & wash trading). Also, it can0t tell if the exchanges themselves are committing fraud.”
8/ The SEC's problem is that it doesn't have jurisdiction over crypto exchanges, so it can't force them to provide the information it needs to identify & prosecute manipulation (like spoofing & wash trading).
Also, it can't tell if the exchanges themselves are committing fraud.
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) December 10, 2018
He went on saying that as the SEC cannot surveil exchanges the agency expects companies to do it for them. This could be one of the solutions proposed by the SEC in order to approve an ETF in the future. However, exchanges do not want the SEC to bee looking through their books.
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Mr. Chevinsky explained that the SEC is under no pressure to make a quick decision regarding the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. This is why it has taken the decision to delay as much as possible the approval of the VanEck/SolidX proposal.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are waiting for this approval to take place. Most of them believe that if an ETF is released to the market it would allow Bitcoin to recover from the bear market that it experienced during 2018.
