- The U.S. has delayed taking a decision on the Bitwise bitcoin ETF, again
- Experts say the approval of bitcoin ETF is only a matter of time
- Bitcoin price appears to be unaffected by the bearish news
On May 14, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) again delayed the decision on the highly-anticipated Bitwise Bitcoin Exchange-traded Fund (ETF).
The Bitcoin ETF is Crypto’s Groundhog Day
It seems that the U.S. SEC has made its mind to keep the suspense on bitcoin ETF right to the last possible day as on Tuesday the regulatory watchdog delayed the decision whether to approve or reject the crypto ETF.
Bitwise first filed for the bitcoin ETF with the SEC on January 12, 2019. The proposed ETF would track the Bitwise Bitcoin Total Return Index. The ETF is of particular to the crypto community as it is expected that the approval of a bitcoin ETF would assure investors of the government’s confidence in the digital currency which will, in turn, bring more liquidity to the nascent cryptospace.
Another application for a Bitcoin ETF, submitted by investment firm VanEck and blockchain company SolidX was postponed by the SEC on December 7, 2018. At the time, the SEC said:
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider this proposed rule change.”
It’s also worth highlighting that just a month prior to the delay, in November 2018, SEC chief Jay Clayton opined that the “lack of safeguards” are a major roadblock for bitcoin ETF’s approval.
However, despite the continual delay of a decision on the fate of bitcoin ETF’s, experts argue that their approval is not a matter of if but when.
Bitcoin Price Unbudged
Bitcoin, which has been on a steep journey up the past couple of weeks, seems to be slowly and steadily maturing with time. The recent hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance in which hackers succeeded in stealing $40 million worth of BTC failed to have any downward pressure on bitcoin’s price.
In the same vein, the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China which has spilled over stocks markets the world over have had an almost negligible impact on bitcoin. And the Bitwise ETF delay is no exception.
At the time of writing, bitcoin trades at $7,744 as seen on CoinMarketCap.
