Bitcoin’s price has recently grown to around the $6,500 mark. After spending several days locked at $6,400, the currency is now seemingly getting its mojo back and looking to climb the financial ladder.
One source suggests that the reason behind bitcoin’s sudden jump is that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) period for public comment regarding several bitcoin ETF applications came to an end on November 5. The organization is now set to make decisions regarding nine different bitcoin-based ETFs it was originally slated to examine back in August.
Many industry leaders still believe the application submitted by VanEck SolidX has the best chance of garnering the approval and respect it allegedly deserves. The process has been a wide and elongated one, as VanEck initially sought approval for a bitcoin ETF over a year ago in March 2017. The company was met with an initial rejection, as the notion of a bitcoin ETF was still quite new and presented a lot of problems for the SEC.
Persistence Is a Virtue
This was followed by a second and a third attempt on VanEck’s part, which ultimately got the SEC’s attention. The company claimed to have fixed a lot of the issues the organization was worried about. They assured the SEC that there was no more cause for concern, and that a bitcoin ETF would be a powerful tool in stabilizing the financial ecosystems of America and abroad.
This ultimately opened a few doors with the SEC, as the body began investigating the matter further and requesting advise and words from people who were deeply involved in the cryptocurrency space. While the ETF was met with widespread acclaim from both amateur and professional traders, the SEC sought to take its time with the obviously big decision in its hands. Though a decision was ultimately set for early August, this was later changed to September 30, and when that date arrived, the SEC moved it to late December.
No Cause for Investor Panic
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Several investors admit to being on edge regarding the SEC’s decision, but a few postponements aren’t likely to put huge dampers in VanEck’s plans. The SEC is not saying “no” outright this time, which suggests that representatives are carefully examining the road ahead and want to have all the data they need to make an educated and informed decision. They’re being careful, not stupid, and in this age of cybercrime, you can’t really blame them.
David Thomas – director of the London-based cryptocurrency broker Global Block – explained:
“Bitcoin continues to trade in an ever-tighter range, which from a technical perspective can only mean that we are due an inevitable breakout. Volume has now started to pick back up again over the last week with a 20 percent increase in the last seven days. With rumors of a further delay in the SEC decision on ETFs, it is going to be interesting to see how the market trades out for the rest of this week.”
Who’s Not Happy?
It’s likely many are anticipating positive news surrounding the ETF, which may account for bitcoin’s sudden spike. At the same time, not everyone is enthused about the notion of a bitcoin ETF, some of which are hardcore industry experts that have been treading the “bitcoin boards” for some time.
Andreas Antonopoulos, for example, is a bitcoin advocate and host of the podcast “Let’s Talk Bitcoin.” In a recent interview, he commented that a bitcoin ETF is a “terrible idea,” and believes it will harm the future legitimacy of the industry along with the basic principles of bitcoin:
“ETFs fundamentally violate the underlying principle of peer-to-peer money, where each user is not operating through a custodian but has direct control of their money because they have direct control of their keys.”
