Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Global Markets has issued a yet another request to get a license for Bitcoin ETF, from the Securities Exchange and Commission (SEC). The exchange has partnered with Van Eyck Investment and SolidX and will offer clients to buy shares in SolidX, currently worth close to 25 BTC. This begs the question: Are we about to witness a game-changing point in the history of cryptomarkets?
BitcoinETF is certainly no stranger to rejection. The SEC has continuously discarded its attempts to obtain a license which first began in March 2017. However, a lot has changed in the crypto world. Bitcoin price has surged dramatically, the Commission has confirmed that neither BTC nor Ethereum are securities, and crypto is being adopted by institutional players who offer their custodial services. A recent example of that is the Swiss stock market exchange which is working on a ‘digital asset ecosystem’, SIX Digital Exchange (“SDX”), which will be a regulated market just like the traditional financial one.
The SEC has already published an application which invites the public to comment on the matter. So far, more than a 100 of comments are available on the site. The tentative date for the SEC’s decision is the 10th of August, 24th of September the latest.
If the SEC gives the green light that would trigger huge consequences driving the BTC price up and boosting investment into altcoins making them mainstream.
CEO of VanEck, Jan van Eck notes, “We believe that collectively, we will build something that may be better than other constructs currently making their way through the regulatory process. A properly constructed, physically-backed bitcoin ETF will be designed to provide exposure to the price of bitcoin, and an insurance component will help protect shareholders against the operational risks of sourcing and holding bitcoin.”
While the situation today is certainly different compared to what it was a year go some are still skeptical about the outcome. For example, an opinion is voiced that “it is still a hard time for making such a request. There is a lot of speculation regarding the financial funds, and their apparent move to offer crypto investments that are not exactly in compliance with what the current futures contracts are offering.”
If the CBOE proposal does go through, then the Bitcoin ETF will be available to investors in the first quarter of 2019.
