Bitcoin, here’s how the SEC makes the giant Blackrock happy
Bitcoins make history: with the SEC's (reluctant) approval, they can be bought on Wall Street like mutual shares or traditional funds
The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally given its green light to the 11 pending applications for the listing of the physical ETF (passive fund) (backed by collateral) on the spot market price of Bitcoin.
THE 11 QUOTABLE EFT FUNDS
The measure approved a total of 11 ETF funds to be listed on the stock exchange: BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, Hashdex Bitcoin ETF, Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund and Franklin Bitcoin ETF.
As you can see, BlackRock, the first investment fund in the world with managed capital of over 10 trillion dollars, also appears on the list. And, given that the SEC has been receiving and rejecting Bitcoin ETF applications since 2018, it is easy to suspect that it was precisely the presence of the fund of funds that made it change its mind.
THE MYSTERY OF THE HACKER
All this happens at the end of a long period of tribulations which, as anticipated, had led the SEC to reject all the questions posed in the last five years. But there is another curious fact: not even twenty-four hours earlier a hacker had entered the profile of the US Commission on platform X by publishing a false message announcing the approval of the funds and thus forcing the SEC to deny the post.
THE ROLLER COASTER IN THE LAST HOURS
A post that later turned out to be truthful in some ways, given that a few hours later the green light was made official. Following the hackers' "prank", the price of the cryptocurrency immediately shot up to around 47,800 dollars, only to then collapse to 45,000 after the SEC's embarrassed denial. When finally the Authority actually gave its approval, the price of Bitcoin went up rebounded again, reaching above 46 thousand dollars. A real roller coaster.
THE SEC'S FOOL
Regarding the intrusion on the SEC's social profile, Joe Benarroch , head of corporate operations at ” had managed to penetrate around 4 pm in the US, a cold shower for the Commission, given that X disclosed, also to avoid any responsibility, that at the time of the accident the government account had not enabled security authentication two-factor system, now essential to enjoy an extra barrier against the possible misdeeds of hackers.
VOLATILE BITCOINS? ALSO DUE TO THE "FAULT" OF THE SEC
The computer pirates probably wanted to demonstrate this, that is, that the much maligned (by the SEC) volatility of Bitcoin and similar products can also be caused by the IT carelessness of the supervisory body itself. And the prices of the last few hours are there to prove it.
THE REASONS FOR THE DECISION
The president of the Commission, the histrionic Gary Gensler (now also known to the general public for his videos of uninstitutional greetings ), however wanted to reiterate for the umpteenth time that the supervisory authorities remain skeptical regarding Bitcoin and, more in general, to cryptocurrencies, which represent "a volatile and speculative asset, often also used for illicit activities such as ransomware attacks, money laundering and financing of terrorist organizations".
Gensler admitted that the latest ETF applications fresh with imprimatur were similar to those the SEC itself had denied in the past, adding that a court ruling last year in favor of crypto asset manager Grayscale forced the change.
THE SEC CONTINUES TO BE WARFUL OF BITCOIN AND SIMILAR
Despite the obtorto collo green light, Gensler said that the Commission continues "not to approve and not to support bitcoin: investors – he again warned – should continue to adopt a cautious approach towards these instruments".
A real sign of surrender, in short, to a tool which has so far been uncontrolled and uncontrollable, which has remained on the margins of the markets, but which is nevertheless capable of attracting rivers of money, especially from very small (and very young) private savers (as well as, as recalled the number 1 of Sec, from crime).
Until now, retail investors who wanted to buy and sell digital currencies had to trade on cryptocurrency exchanges by purchasing products that tracked bitcoin in less direct ways or incurring large transaction fees. Now, with its debut on the stock exchange on January 11th, operations will take place on common platforms, like all other traditional shares and funds.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/sec-bitcoin-blackrock/ on Thu, 11 Jan 2024 09:27:24 +0000.