And, at last… there was Bitcoin ETF
Confirming the insistent rumors of recent weeks, on January 10, the American SEC approved en bloc the Bitcoin ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) that had been submitted to it several months ago. In fact, it was a block of 11 ETFs, because the most famous, that of BlackRock, had been joined by, and in some cases anticipated, others by less famous managers.
However, approval was not an easy process. There was no shortage of mystery from the day before, with a supposed compromise of the X/Twitter account @SECGov with anticipation of the news, and subsequent denial a few minutes later. And then the official confirmation the next day. In short, a mess, which would not be surprising if major legal consequences followed. Just as the reference, in the official press release, to ETP (Exchange Traded Product) and not ETF is raising a lot of hypotheses, also on the legal positioning of Bitcoin ETFs.
But the approval of 11 Bitcoin ETFs was evidently taken ob torto collo, also behind the cumulative pressure of various judicial decisions of the US courts in the past months, all individually small or medium-small in scope, but which overall put the SEC on the ropes and its President Gary Gensler.
It is worth noting that the entire SEC statement is steeped in skepticism towards the crypto world. For those who want, it’s an interesting read. But it is in the last sentence of the text that the Commission removed some stones from itself, like an “I told you so” for future reference: “While we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin ETP shares today, we did not approve or endorse bitcoin. Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto”
And now? As expected, the market did not see any major shocks immediately, the approval had been in the air for weeks and the price of Bitcoin presumably already discounted it.
On the other hand, the movement on Ether, the crypto of the Ethereum blockchain, is notable. Also for Ether there are pending requests for ETFs in the USA, which, at this point, undoubtedly take on new strength. And it is interesting because Ethereum is at the basis of a nascent ecosystem of functionality, susceptible to high-performance and energetically sustainable transactional developments, while the Bitcoin blockchain is only useful for making Bitcoin work (and vice versa), as well as having a laughable throughput and a (theoretically) high environmental impact.
Wide coverage was given in the international financial press to the approval.
Via libera della Sec al primo Etf su Bitcoin a Wall Street – Il Sole 24 ORE
Criptovalute, la speculazione di mercato infiamma Ether: +9% puntando all’Etf – Il Sole 24 ORE
Bitcoin volumes surge as long-awaited ETFs debut (ft.com)
The related Generative Artificial Intelligence question is posted in the dedicated gallery: Can SEC approval of Bitcoin ETF be a step towards mainstream adoption?