Former chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, has stated that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is “inevitable”. In a recent interview with CNBC, Clayton expressed his belief that the SEC will soon approve the first spot Bitcoin ETF for trading in the United States. This comes after a decade of the SEC denying every application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, due to concerns over potential market manipulation and fraud.
Clayton now believes that an ETF approval is “imminent”, citing significant improvements in the underlying market dynamics for Bitcoin over the last five years. He noted that issues such as wash sales and laddering, which posed risks to the general public, have been addressed. He also commended the regulator for its current position, stating that it was a big step forward for the agency to be comfortable with the Bitcoin ETF disclosures from firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
Clayton also highlighted the lack of adequate infrastructure to properly custody and secure Bitcoin in a way that made it accessible to traditional financial market participants. However, he believes that this has now been addressed. He also praised the development of blockchain technology for its ability to tokenize and trade real-world assets, stating that this is a significant change across finance, not just in the ‘crypto space’.
On January 8, a number of amended S-1 and S-3 filings from prospective Bitcoin ETF issuers were submitted to the SEC. These filings disclosed the fees that issuers want to charge on their products following approval. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated that the influx of amended filings was a sign that the regulator was “accelerating things”. Seyffart and his colleague Eric Balchunas have estimated the chances of a spot Bitcoin ETF at 90% by January 10.
In a recent post, Seyffart added that investors could expect further amendments to S-1 and S-3 filings in the following days after the SEC provides additional comments. Despite the ongoing amendments and comments, he stated that these are unlikely to be a “delay signal” for the ETFs.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | positive |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Eric Balchunas, Jay Clayton, James Seyffart |
| Companies | CNBC, Bloomberg, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Fidelity, BlackRock |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
