The crypto industry has recently celebrated the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. However, this decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not been universally welcomed.
SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, who was one of two commissioners to vote against the approval, expressed her concerns in a statement on January 10. She described the decision to approve the Bitcoin-based investment vehicles as “unsound and ahistorical”. Crenshaw fears that these products will inundate the markets and end up in the retirement accounts of US households who can least afford to lose their savings to the fraud and manipulation that she believes is prevalent in the spot bitcoin markets. She also stated that the global spot markets underlying the Bitcoin ETPs are riddled with fraud and manipulation, and lack adequate oversight.
Better Markets, a nonprofit economic organization, also criticized the ETF decision, describing Bitcoin as inherently worthless and without purpose. In a post on January 10, the organization stated that the SEC’s action has not changed the nature of this “worthless financial product”. They maintain that Bitcoin and crypto have no legitimate use and are the preferred product of speculators, gamblers, predators, and criminals. They also claim that these markets continue to be hotbeds of fraud, manipulation, and criminality.
Dennis Kelleher, the CEO of Better Markets, had written a letter to the SEC five days prior to the approval, urging the agency to reject the Bitcoin ETF applications. He argued that these products would almost certainly lead to massive investor harm.
Stephen Diehl, a long-time crypto critic, also shared his views on the cryptocurrency following the approval. He criticized Bitcoin for representing “serfdom, stagnation, and subjugation to the tyranny of the discredited ideas from the middle ages”, and praised fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar instead.
Gold advocate and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff also voiced his opinion, stating that the approvals were merely new ways for speculators to gamble on Bitcoin. He lamented that Bitcoin itself has no actual real-world utility, unlike gold.
Interestingly, even some within the crypto community were disappointed by the approvals. Chris Blec, a crypto researcher and decentralization advocate, argued that introducing institution-driven ETFs would be detrimental to the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network in the long run.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | very negative |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Chris Blec, Stephen Diehl, Dennis Kelleher, Caroline Crenshaw, Peter Schiff |
| Companies | Better Markets, Securities and Exchange Commission |
| Currencies | united states dollar, Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
