At a meeting with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Elad L. Roisman, representatives from SolidX, VanEck, and CBOE presented five major reasons why the commission should approve the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing of VanEck and SolidX.
VanEck, an investment management firm headquartered in New York that has decades of track record in the traditional finance sector and hundreds of ETFs filed under its name, outlined the following points the SEC should consider in approving its Bitcoin ETF:
- There now exists a significant regulated derivatives market for bitcoin
- Relevant markets – CBOE, bitcoin futures, OTC desks – are regulated
- Concerns around price manipulation have been mitigated, consistent with approval of prior commodity-based ETPs
- CBOE’s rules are designed to surveil for potential manipulation of Trust shares
- Promotes investor protection
Significant Volume and Trading Activity in the Futures Market
Previously, the SEC rejected the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF primarily due to its reliance on a public cryptocurrency exchange in Gemini to find the base price of BTC. The SEC deemed cryptocurrency exchanges to be insufficiently regulated and liquid to handle an ETF.
As a response to the rejection of the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF, ProShares and two other companies filed 9 ETFs, basing the BTC price of the ETFs on the futures market operated by CBOE and CME Group. At the time, the filling of ETFs by the three companies was considered a smart move as it considered the SEC’s concerns regarding cryptocurrency exchanges.
However, the SEC rejected the 9 ETFs and stated that the futures market is not of significant size to support an ETF.
During its presentation, VanEck, SolidX, and CBOE representatives told the SEC that the futures market is able to handle the operation of an ETF through the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which was especially relevant given the involvement of CBOE in the filing.
VanEck also emphasized that the approval of an ETF would reduce counterparty risk for investors and it would provide a simple solution for investors seeking price exposure, by increasing the stability of the market.
“As of now, no CCPs support the clearing of bitcoin Investors are left facing absolute counterparty risk. Such risks are often unacceptable to many investors An ETF provides a straightforward solution for investors seeking price exposure without facing counterparty risk, as the ETF would be cleared through DTCC Furthermore, in creations and redemptions, the Trust always requires APs and trading counterparties to settle their leg of the trade before the Trust will do so.”
The claim of VanEck directly supports the statement of SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, who previously stated that the current structure of the cryptocurrency exchange market only allows a selected group of investors with specific know-how and knowledge in the market to trade and benefit off of the liquidity in the market.
“This complexity means that only a very particular type of investor can pursue the diversification opportunities such assets can provide. Entrepreneurs are developing new products through which people can access cryptocurrencies indirectly or hedge their cryptocurrency holdings. Bitcoin futures, for example, began to trade recently,” she explained.
VanEck Has the Highest Chance
Throughout the past several months, analysts have given VanEck and SolidX the strongest chance of having an ETF introduced in US markets given the history of VanEck in successfully filing hundreds of ETFs with the SEC.
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