- Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, has been appointed as U.S. Attorney in New York. Expectations of approval of a Bitcoin ETF revive.
- Clayton’s appointment must still be approved and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become official.
- The new SEC President might approve a Bitcoin ETF.
The possibility of approval of a Bitcoin ETF resurfaces with the appointment of Jay Clayton to the Southern District Attorney’s Office in New York. Clayton was serving as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the U.S. president made the decision to appoint him to the position. However, the nomination has yet to be reviewed, approved and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become official.
The decision to approve a Bitcoin ETF by the SEC has been one of the achievements that has eluded the crypto market for years. The reason why a Bitcoin ETF causes so much expectation is because of the strong possibility that its approval will bring a new flow of capital to the market. This would have a positive impact on Bitcoin’s price performance. But the SEC has rejected all applications so far, after years of attempts by several companies.
The SEC has had a variety of arguments for denying a Bitcoin ETF. It has said that the crypto market is vulnerable to price manipulation, said that it is too small, unsupervised and volatile, among other things.
Possibility of a Bitcoin ETF approval
Some members of the crypto community have resurrected the hope that a Bitcoin ETF will be approved. Bitcoin bull and investor Mike Novogratz said that Clayton’s exit will be good for Bitcoin. Novogratz expects Clay’s successor to be a “futurist” and stressed that the ETF is more likely now.
The approval of a Bitcoin ETF was completely ruled out in March of this year. At that time, the SEC rejected Wilshire Phoenix’s request for a Bitcoin ETF. Attorney Jake Chervinsky, popular in the crypto community, said at the time that he would “not bet on any ETF in 2020”. But the change in leadership at the SEC has brought back that expectation.
Clayton has been one of the opponents to the ETF’s approval and is one of the advocates that the crypto market is manipulable. Although some recognize that important advances were made during his presidency. For example, the SEC under Clay determined that Bitcoin is not a security and played a major role in stopping Initial Coins Offers (ICOs) that were illegally made in previous years.
However, opinions on the next SEC president are divided. While some like Novogratz are holding out hope, other members of the crypto community believe the new president will be the same as the previous one. It recently became known that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department to “go after Bitcoin” in 2018. Therefore, the next SEC president’s pro-Bitcoin stance may be a remote possibility, but the Trump administration is known for its pragmatic and unexpected decisions.
