SEC chairman Gary Gensler is "actually pro-bitcoin" and his views on cryptocurrency regulation are "slightly misunderstood". This view was expressed by Volt Equity founder and CEO Ted Park in an interview with Fox Business.
He believes the regulator has good reason to delay approving cryptocurrency-first exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
According to Park, the SEC sees investor protection as its primary concern, and custodial providers have failed to convince the Commission that they are truly capable of securing digital assets.
"I can say: I have a gold ETF or a bitcoin ETF, but I keep that gold in my basement. Will the SEC allow that? Probably not. Unless companies can show that they are able to store it and actually solve many of the problems that Gensler specifically mentioned, it won't work," Park said.
The CEO of Volt Equity noted that "at least half" of cryptocurrency ETF filings do not account for what Gensler is talking about.
Analyst firm Arcane Research estimates that 12 spot bitcoin ETFs and seven futures-based ones were pending with the SEC as of early October.
In August, the head of the SEC said the regulator would consider bitcoin-ETFs if they were based on Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures and complied with the Investment Company Act of 1940.
His comment was followed by a wave of filings for such funds from Valkyrie Investments, VanEck, Invesco, ProShares, Galaxy Digital, AdvisorShares and BlockFi. The proposed investment products do not involve direct investments in cryptocurrency.
Earlier, Volt Equity received SEC approval to launch an exchange-traded fund based on bitcoin-focused stocks. Park stressed that the instrument does not provide direct access to digital gold.
"We're trying to understand what people are really looking for, what correlates to the price of bitcoin? These companies are really focused on cryptocurrency and derive most of their revenues and profits from it. It makes sense that their quotes tend to move with its rate," Park explained.
Recall, Bloomberg analysts suggested that the regulator will register the first bitcoin-based ETF by the end of October.
Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead conceded that this event could have a negative impact on the cryptocurrency's price.
To help make the job easier, we've gathered the below reviews of the best wallets for sending, receiving and storing cryptocurrency. Technical BTC Direct. Buying cryptocurrency: What does it depend on?
