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SEC delays ETF applications as bitcoin struggles to maintain recent gains
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today delayed a decision on applications for three bitcoin exchange-traded funds and related rule changes, even as the cryptocurrency struggles to maintain recent price gains.
The delayed ETF applications — tradable securities that track the price of bitcoin to the U.S. dollar — are from VanEck SolidX, Bitwise Asset Management and Wilshire Phoenix. They also come with proposed rule changes to allow them to be traded on NYSE Acra and Cboe BZX Exchange.
The rule changes are necessary because under current rules the ETFs would likely be rejected. The SEC has rejected various ETF applications previously, including a notable one from the Winklevoss twins to list their Bitcoin Trust ETF in March 2017. Other applications for bitcoin ETFs have been withdrawn on the basis that they were likely to be rejected, including Reality Shares ETF Trust, Cboe Bitcoin ETF, Direxion Shares ETF Trust and ProShares Trust.
“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,” the SEC said in a statement.
The SEC had previously already delayed the applications from VanEck and Bitwise’s ETF applications in March and May Cointelegraph reported.
The commission has previously expressed concern regarding the liquidity and valuation of the underlying instruments in which the funds intend to primarily invest — that is, the availability and price of bitcoin.
The new delay comes as bitcoin struggles to maintain a price over $11,000, a mark it once again achieved Aug. 4. It climbed through $11,600 on Aug. 5 before hitting a recent peak of $12,231.55 on Aug. 6. After trading in a band of around $11,600 to $11,900 for several days, bitcoin headed south again on Aug. 10, trading mostly between $11,300 and $11,400 since then.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they believe that at its current price now is a good time to buy bitcoin but others, such as Clem Chambers at Forbes, rightly asked, is “bitcoin on the edge of a launchpad or the edge of a cliff?”
Bitcoin was trading at $11,383.38 as of 11 p.m. EDT, down a half-point over the last 24 hours.
Image: 160866001@N07/Flickr
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