Bitcoin Forum

Every few weeks this summer, bitcoin bulls have gotten a ray of hope from U.S. regulators.

This week, that optimism is coming from the possibility a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF, will be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What would be the first-ever bitcoin-based ETF is being decided on by the SEC on Thursday, the deadline according to the Federal Register.

ProShares, which has about $30 billion in assets under management, filed for two bitcoin ETFs in September. The ETFs plan to track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and will trade on NYSE Arca, according to the SEC filing. ProShares declined to comment on the status of its application.

 The biggest bitcoin news of the year, says Brian Kelly   The biggest bitcoin news of the year, says Brian Kelly 
6:28 PM ET Fri, 3 Aug 2018 | 06:15
Exchange-traded funds track an index or group of assets but trade like stocks. The approval of one could bring in a wave of institutional buyers and, because bitcoin has a fixed supply, theoretically push up prices.

Hunter Horsley‏, CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, which submitted its own ETF proposal to the SEC in June, said investors shouldn't read into Thursday's deadline.

"An SEC filing hitting a deadline is a procedural reality — it doesn't change the odds of it getting approved, it just draws our attention to it," Horsley said. "Just because we hit the deadline doesn't necessarily give any indication that the SEC has changed its tune."

Struggling bitcoin prices jumped ahead of other SEC deadlines for ETFs this summer. The cryptocurrency rallied 20 percent, above $8,000, in late July on rumors that another ETF, proposed by VanEck, would be approved in August. That decision was later postponed by the agency.

This week, price moves have been more subtle. The cryptocurrency rose roughly 3 percent to a high of $6,858.61, according to data from CoinDesk. Bitcoin is still down more than 50 percent this year and more than 65 percent from its high near $20,000.

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Brian Kelly, CEO and founder of BKCM, said investors are getting more cautious and have stopped betting big ahead of these SEC deadlines.

"My view is still [that] this does not get approved tomorrow, but I feel we're making large steps and getting closer to it," Kelly said. "There's a better chance this gets approved than anything else."

One reason the ProShares ETF might be more appealing to regulators is because it's based on futures trading. The agency has cited the lack of regulation in bitcoin exchanges. But bitcoin futures trade on the SEC-regulated CBOE.

Winklevoss twins rejected
 SEC rejects Winklevoss bitcoin ETF proposal for the second time   SEC rejects Winklevoss bitcoin ETF proposal for the second time 
6:17 PM ET Thu, 26 July 2018 | 01:35
ProShares is hardly the only group looking to list an ETF.

In late July, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a second attempt by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of crypto exchange Gemini, to list the first-ever cryptocurrency ETF on a regulated exchange. The same week, the SEC delayed deliberations on five other bitcoin ETFs filed by NYSE Arca, Inc. Asset manager Bitwise joined the list of hopefuls in July and filed for an ETF that would track a basket of cryptocurrencies.

After the Winklevoss rejection, the agency reiterated its mission to prevent fraudulent or manipulative acts or practices and to protect investors. The agency has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of fraud and manipulation of bitcoin, particularly since this is done in a largely unregulated offshore market.

The financial watchdog emphasized in the Winklevoss decision that the disapproval did not rest on whether bitcoin or blockchain technology had value as an innovation, or an investment.

SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce was the lone dissenter in the agency's decision on the Winklevoss ETF. She published an open letter that bitcoin bulls saw as a positive sign for an eventual approval.

"More institutional participation would ameliorate many of the Commission's concerns with the bitcoin market that underlie its disapproval order," Peirce wrote. "I am concerned that the Commission's approach undermines investor protection by precluding greater institutionalization of the bitcoin market."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/22/once-again-bitcoin-investors-hold-their-breath-for-an-etf-approval.html

Are people really waiting for an ETF?  Or does everyone just think people are waiting for an ETF because the media won't STFU about it?  I frankly couldn't give a shit anymore.  It's almost getting difficult to find headlines about Bitcoin that aren't related to the price or what regulators might or might not be doing.  If I want to find interesting and useful news about Bitcoin, I now have to search with "-price -ETF -market".  Otherwise it's just the same tired old crap over and over.  Increasingly, this looks like manipulation.

All this commotion is based on the assumption that easier access to institutional investors will increase the price, but it's literally just an assumption.  Maybe we need to stop buying the hype for something that could transpire only for us to find that absolutely nothing changes.

Most people don't care about an ETF and don't expect anything from. Only the newbies or the wannabe traders because they want to look smart here, or have no others future signal to give for the near future outside. I mean they don't know what to say anymore so they try everything left on the table

Everyone is waiting again for the ETF approval but I think they will delay it for another time. SEC wants to may price dump more. I don't know if we can consider it as price manipulation. Manage your expectations that it will be delayed again. Bitcoin doesn't need ETF. It will continue to exist without it.

You can see that the market will continue to move sideways and slow down without a specific decision on ETH, but I believe that ETH will fail because it will directly affect the confidence of investors in bitcoin. and is contrary to the mechanism of bitcoin. You can see that bitcoin is supposed to be a trading platform of the future, so I think ETH will not be passed.

I'm not surprised that ETF rejected. First you need to eradicate manipulation in the market. This requires vermya. We need to wait.

The regulators do not have their regulations in yet.  They will continue to delay until they have everything set up the way they like it.  Then and only then will they allow cryptos to fly. 

Waiting again for the ETF approval, BTC will pum  ;D

I'm sorry but how could we have an Exchange Trade Fund in a market like cryptos?

How could bitcoin have an ETF? With the manipulation we saw 2 nights ago?

We need responsible platforms and even more responsible cryptos. Never forget, what people want is Law and Order while cryptos have always been in the chaos since the beginning.

at this point it is only the media looking for any crap they can find and write something about it.
"holding their breath for ETF approval" LOL. as if they are incapable of looking at the charts! the price action of past 2 days proves that nobody cared about ETF, at least not at all for this one since price didn't move much. we had one small rise to $6900 which was speculated to be because of Bitmex.

No matter how many ETFs are scrutinized and are reviewed by the SEC and regulators, I don't think they will ever approve one no matter how good the proposal is. I for one thinks that the postponement of ETF decisions are one way of manipulating the market indirectly but that doesn't seem to be the case now as most traders are not really affected by the ETF talks anymore. See the price, if traders are interested about ETFs, there would be some form of wild price swings but apparently, there isn't one. Nobody gives a shit about ETFs when they know that in the end, it will only get denied.

I agree that the market is becoming more resilient to the ETF bullshit news and people are stopping to care  about it slowly but surely. but also let us not forget that this new ETF that was rejected (9 of them!) weren't exactly on anybody's radar. so their rejection wasn't really a big deal. I believe SolidX ETF which will be (probably) rejected in September is the main one that is hyped up.
in any case this build up denials are good to soften the blow by the time they deny the final one and we are done with SEC and their shenanigans ...

It seems to me stupid to wait for an ETF. This is not a delivery contract, so it's foolish to hope that this will raise the market. This could be an excellent news, giving an impetus to the short-term trend, but no more.

Well, many people are waiting for this news. I don't know what will happen when ETFs receive bitcoin. but I think the price will definitely go up. well, so far the price of bitcoin is down probably influenced by news like this.

Enough of this bullshit. We were doing fine with or without ETF approval. Why is there so much noise about this all of a sudden. This is just pure manipulation and the earlier crypto enthusiasts realize it the better for this ecosystem. Big players are just crashing the market for their own gains. Stop panicking folks. We will do well with ETF, it will just a matter of time, we will soon be out of the woods. Just hold on tight...

It is almost certain ETFs will not be approved at the moment. We need to have some regulations forst in order to proceed with ETFs.
And ofcourse people are looking forward to it as it will bring huge amount of fresh FIAT into cryptocurrencies and the price growth is inevitable.

i am wondering who these "bitcoin investors" are that have been holding their breath for ETF approval? the news sites these days seem to be exaggerating a lot of stuff about what has been going on in the market. and at least this last couple of days it was so obvious that nobody is even bothering with the ETF anymore.

Bitcoin market source is awaiting from long back for the ETF approval from the US authorities.It has postponed to September last of 2018.The ETF approval can make a considerable change and up lift of the crypto market .Naturally the bitcoin demand can increase and hence its price can move up at any level.In this circumstance the bitcoin investors has to hold their breath till  the month of September last for the approval of ETF for the expected move in bitcoin price.

ETF does not affect the price of bitcoin! This is a myth on which manipulators reduce the price of cryptocurrency.

Only the community should support bitcoin and then there will be no problems!

  The cryptocurrency community is waiting for the approval of ETF , It is because if it is approved there will be more buyers and that would help in the struggling prices . Blockchain technology has increased in popularity due to the unparalleled  cryptocurrency rally . I think that most of the people are not bothered about the regulations in Bitcoin they are considering only about the price and trying the maximum to make profit out of Bitcoin .   those who are holding their breath for an ETF approval means they wish that this will hike the value of Bitcoin more than they imagin

I have decided not not be bothered by the continuous ETF hanky-parky. Am just seeing what I can make out from this current market before the bull run turns in, as we stand, if the mainstream don't believe in bitcoin, this won't have given them some-much concern and sleepless night. 

This we bitcoiners know it but this new traders and users of crypto currency dont know it. They are just needing it in the hope that market will bounce back and move just like last month. Market is not reacted much so i think it should not get lower if it got rejected.

Before ETFs bitcoin was trading rugged and stayed bullishish! In the last major bull run, price wasn't determined by ETFs, it was determined by the ease with which bitcoin made moving of monies possible, those who paid for properties in Dubai, bought landed properties in other places made the bull possible. I see that happening again, bitcoin will rise when all the noise about regulations die down. ETFs were over hyped. Bitcoin controls its own price that's what I think.

Yes for the long term outlokk this ETF is just a blip, another chapter in Bitcoins
life story. Its the short term outlookers who are focusing on the ETF to make a
gain on the announcement.

This is just pure manipulation by the big players. They are just scooping up cheap Bitcoin, and when they are done they will pump it to the high heavens. Stop panicking about this whole ETF saga mates. Crypto was fine without ETF or the SEC for a long time. Why does it seems suddenly that the very existence of crypto is dependent on that ruling. Wake crypto enthusiasts, stop playing into their hands... Just exercise a little patience and all will be well

This ETF supported by Bitcoin may be owned by the CBOE, VanEck and SolidX trio. And when it comes to Bitcoin bulk custody services hosted by three companies, there is a bakkt solution coming out in November as well as some other custodial services around. With Bakkt launched in November, we can clearly see that the ETF supported by CBOE will most likely be postponed again by the SEC.
So we have to wait in November again, right ?

If approval from SEC will pass, then those who hold Bitcoin will be a plus in connection with the growth of its price.

this recent one had no price manipulation, the fact that price doesn't rise is just because people are afraid of that manipulation that can come.
we have had manipulation because of ETF in the past though. the first time it came out and the none of them was rejected a couple of months ago we had a wild swing up and down. and we may see another wild one when Solidx ETF is rejected next month but I wouldn't expect such a big deal out of it yet since these delays made most investors realize how pointless their concerns about ETF approval have been.

For those who's believing that Bitcoin will gain adoptions in the long run won't worry about this concerned, as time will come and usage will be broader, I think you are correct when you said that only those who's aiming for short term gains are the people who's leaning with this ETF decision but for supporters it won't be bothered.

I don't care about ETF approval. I care about regular people using cryptocurrencies and therefore getting the control of their own finance instead of being controlled by centralized institutions.

In a way i agree. i've noticed many newbies trying to show off and play it off.

One major reason for the SEC not refusing to approve the ETF last year was due to the unregulated Bitcoin market. But by the end of 2017, Bitcoin futures started trading as big investment banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan started leaping into the money-market. If the SolidX Bitcoin Shares ETF was approved on August 10th, it could catalyze a massive Bitcoin price explosion in particular and electronic money space in general.