[2019-1-25] When Bitcoin ETF? Not Any Time Soon, But Maybe by 2020

[1Referee]

Why there is so much obsession about an ETF?

Pump and dump. People want to sell the event.

ETF will just increase the centralization in the blockchain and maybe after some time it may impact the price of Bitcoin negatively.

ETF's are bullish by nature. If backed by the underlying asset, they will keep a large chunk of coins off the market if the demand is there. If it's just cash settled garbage, it will not do anything for this market other than taking away actual demand from the asset.

Institutions don't care if they buy the real deal or fake Bitcoins in form of contracts. It's the exposure they are after, because they don't seem to care yet about Gold 2.0 or Bitcoin being censorship resistant money.

[Slow death]

When Bitcoin ETF? Not Any Time Soon, But Maybe by 2020

this ETF was a great novel and made many people lose hope of a possible recovery, looking at things that depend on government approval has been a big disappointment. BAKKT is still pending approval and it is unknown whether it will be approved. People do not even have high expectations. ETFs are something else that has no chance of being approved in the next 2 years. I at the end of the year thought: if in January BAKKT is postponed, then we will see another disastrous year

Why there is so much obsession about an ETF?

because it would be a form of recognition by governments

[BitHodler]

I at the end of the year thought: if in January BAKKT is postponed, then we will see another disastrous year

It was bound to be delayed with how the government shutdown is affecting their functioning. If ICE doesn't manage to get Bakkt approved within 6 months, then you can be sure that it won't ever be approved in its current state.

The price itself can also play a role in this with how the CFTC might consider this industry to be an unhealthy environment to operate in, especially if the price keeps going down in the coming months.

Let's be honest here, the price going down for such a long period of time isn't a sign of strength. If the 200WMA breaks, you should expect this bear cycle to be different from all the bear cycles we went through in previous years.

[cr1776]

The sooner the better.  More demand means a higher price, it is simple economics.  And ease of purchasing via something like an ETF instead of coinbase, mining, your own wallet or anything else is important.  Particularly for retirement accounts and the like.  I recommend people hold their own keys, otherwise it is an IOU, but in this instance the ETFs would be regulated and insured so it would allow someone's grandmother to diversify into it.

There are many facets to the ecosystem.  From day to day use cases (e.g. remittances), micropayments via lightning, to long term diversification into different asset classes by investors.  None are exclusive, and all are helpful to bitcoin as a whole.