SEC Punts on Bitcoin ETF as Unfazed Crypto Bulls Dig in Their Heels

By CCN: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decided once again to kick the can on its decision about a bitcoin ETF. In a ruling published today, the securities watchdog revealed that an answer on the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF as proposed by the Cboe would be postponed for another 90 days, pushing the deadline back to August 19. The crypto community wasn’t shocked by the announcement, but the bitcoin price has retreated modestly from Sunday’s fresh 2019 highs. Despite the pullback in the bitcoin price, the cryptocurrency market has several major catalysts this year that will continue to fuel the bull market. And the SEC can’t stick its head in the sand on bitcoin forever.

The bitcoin price pulled back modestly from Sunday’s fresh highs. | Source: CoinMarketCap

Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital assets strategy at VanEck/MVIS, responded to the latest delay on Twitter, basically saying the firm will not give up and adding:

“Bitcoin is too big to ignore. Vires in numeris!”

The VanEck SolidX #Bitcoin #ETF decision has been postponed by the SEC. We continue the hard work towards better-regulated, safer and more liquid digital assets markets. Bitcoin is too big to ignore. Vires in numeris! Public document and timelines: https://t.co/F9cV95CHKN pic.twitter.com/hgyhVE0nJr

— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) May 20, 2019

The SEC Delayed A Different Bitcoin ETF Last Week

Last week, the SEC decided to delay another bitcoin ETF issued by Bitwise. Its decision to stay mum at the time about the VanEck product left many wondering what the fate of the most high-profile ETF would be with the May 21 deadline right around the corner. According to attorney Jake Chervinsky on Twitter, the fact that the SEC needed more time to issue its decision on the VanEck bitcoin ETF product was likely due to semantics.

15/ To be fair, the fact that the SEC delayed Bitwise & stayed silent on VanEck could mean nothing at all.

Maybe SEC staff just hasn’t had time to finish the VanEck delay order yet. These things take time & there’s no reason why the SEC has to issue ETF delays at once.

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 19, 2019

While they ultimately decided to punt on both bitcoin ETFs, they didn’t issue a flat-out rejection. It seems as though they are just waiting as long as possible to drag this out until either there is a regulatory framework from which to work or the crypto community gives up, the latter of which isn’t going to happen.

Many Reasons to Remain Bullish on Bitcoin

The attitude emanating from Crypto Twitter was basically one of annoyance. For example,

“The market will pump with or without the ETF news.”

Another said:

“Apparently no one cares about an ETF. Just buy a bitcoin.”

Bitcoin’s Higher Highs and Higher Lows

A bitcoin ETF would be nice but the crypto revolution is much bigger than one single product. Sure, it would incentivize big investors whose capital remains sidelined to jump in, and the SEC knows this. It means that the average Joe will probably gain exposure to bitcoin in their retirement fund. So they are being probably overly cautious. In the meantime, bitcoin has proven its resilience in 2019. It has been trading on positive developments and taking setbacks such as the ETF delay in stride, as evidenced by a market cap that remains close to Sunday’s $140 billion.

Bitcoin is back to $140 billion market cap.

This thing just refuses to die.

— Pomp ? (@APompliano) May 19, 2019

As industry leaders have been saying, the BTC price lows are getting higher and the highs are getting higher. Over the weekend, CBS/60 Minutes shared bitcoin with millions of American households. Fidelity is poised to roll out its bitcoin trading service to institutional investors, and the launch of Bakkt is right around the corner. Bitcoin has plenty of catalysts until the SEC finally realizes that it’s not in charge of deciding how much risk investors choose to inherit.

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