Two SEC commissioners, members of the US Democratic Party, called the approval of applications from companies wishing to launch cryptocurrency ETFs unreasonable. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw is concerned that fraud and market manipulation will increase significantly after the launch of the Bitcoin ETF.
“This is a complete failure. I’m worried about what will happen next. New, more speculative products will begin to be traded, carrying much greater risk for investors. “We will soon hear a chorus of voices saying that the SEC’s hands are tied by the new standards we set,” Crenshaw said.
Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga has a pessimistic opinion. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies, also said the SEC made the “wrong decision.” However, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, famously known as “Cryptomom,” called the agency’s verdict “the end of an unnecessary but significant saga.”
“We’ve wasted a decade of opportunity to get the job done.”. If we had applied the standard we use for other commodity-based ETPs, these investment products would have been approved long ago. But we refused to do this until the court called our bluff,” Pierce explained.
The SEC’s decision to give final approval to Bitcoin spot ETFs comes after the court in October ordered a review of Grayscale’s bid to launch a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund.