Coinbase is assured {that a} U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund can be accepted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the corporate’s chief authorized officer, Paul Grewal, advised CNBC.
“I’m quite hopeful that these [ETF] applications will be granted, if only because they should be granted under the law,” Grewal mentioned in an interview with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal.
The SEC was just lately dealt a serious courtroom setback when a choose dominated that the regulator had no foundation to disclaim crypto-focused asset supervisor Grayscale’s bid to show its big GBTC bitcoin fund into an ETF.
The SEC final week declined to attraction that ruling by a key deadline, probably paving the best way for a bitcoin-related ETF to be accepted within the coming months.
“I think that the firms that have stepped forward with robust proposals for these products and services are among some of the biggest blue chips in financial services,” Grewal added.
“So that, I think, suggests that we will see progress there in short order.”
He did not say when that is more likely to occur, and added the caveat that any choice would finally be as much as the SEC.
But, Grewal mentioned, it is probably now that the SEC will approve a bitcoin ETF quickly, highlighting the regulator’s failure in courtroom to dam Grayscale from changing its GBTC bitcoin fund into an ETF.
SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 06: In this photograph illustration, the Coinbase emblem is displayed on a display screen on June 06, 2023 in San Anselmo, California. The Securities And Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit in opposition to cryptocurrency trade Coinbase for allegedly violating securities legal guidelines by appearing as an trade, a dealer and a clearing company with out registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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“I think that, after the U.S. Court of Appeals made clear that the SEC could not reject these applications on an arbitrary or capricious basis, we’re going to see the commission fulfill its responsibilities. I’m quite confident of that.”
The SEC declined to touch upon Grewal’s remark when contacted by CNBC.
A bitcoin ETF would give traders a strategy to personal bitcoin with out having to make a direct buy from an trade.
That could possibly be extra interesting to retail traders trying to achieve publicity to bitcoin with out having to really personal the underlying asset.
Coinbase would probably profit from any bitcoin ETF that’s finally accepted. The firm, the biggest crypto trade within the United States, is a typical inventory held in portfolios designed to present traders publicity to crypto.
Not all is rosy in Grayscale’s bid to show GBTC into an ETF, nonetheless.
The asset administration agency’s mother or father firm, Digital Currency Group, together with crypto trade Gemini and DCG subsidiary Genesis, had been accused in a lawsuit from New York’s lawyer common of defrauding traders of greater than $1 billion.
Still, Grewal sounded a optimistic observe on the prospect of extra bitcoin ETFs being accepted — sooner fairly than later.
“We think that other ETFs are going to be coming online soon enough as the SEC follows the law and is required to apply the law in a neutral way to the applications that are pending,” he mentioned.
Bitcoin has risen about 72% within the 12 months thus far, in a comeback by stealth for the world’s largest digital foreign money after big declines in 2022.
There’s been better investor demand for the token in latest months, because the market reacts to prospect of the Federal Reserve ending its marketing campaign of persistent rate of interest rises, and as anticipation builds across the upcoming bitcoin “halving” occasion, which is able to see rewards to bitcoin miners decreased by half, thereby limiting the coin’s provide.
Still, buying and selling volumes have declined, as retail traders have turn into tired of participating out there in mild of an absence of volatility and in response to extreme wounds suffered by once-large business gamers like FTX, BlockFi and Three Arrows Capital.
FTX collapsed into chapter 11 final 12 months after traders fled the platform en masse due to considerations over its liquidity. The firm and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, are accused of defrauding traders in a multibillion-dollar scheme. Bankman-Fried is standing trial over these allegations and has pleaded not responsible.
Addressing the trial, Grewal mentioned he was “quite encouraged and quite optimistic that a number of the bad actors in this space are being held to account through criminal trials and through aggressive regulatory actions.”
“We are quite excited that there are a number of developments we think that are just around the corner, or underway even as we speak, that will bring back investor and consumer interest in crypto,” Grewal added.
Source: www.cnbc.com