Former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Jay Clayton has outlined why he thinks a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) would eventually be approved. He emphasized that "it is obvious that bitcoin is something that retail investors and institutional investors want access to."
Former SEC Chief Says Approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs Inevitable
In an interview with CNBC on Friday, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton discussed his views on the chances of the securities regulator approving a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The SEC delayed making decisions on many applications for bitcoin ETFs, including one put up by Blackrock, the largest asset management in the world. This led to the interview.
Clayton provided the following details, but avoided saying whether he would permit a spot Bitcoin ETF if he were still the SEC chairman:
Bitcoin is obviously not a security. Bitcoin is undoubtedly a commodity that both institutional and retail investors desire access to.
The former SEC chairman continued, "And crucially, some of our most dependable suppliers, who are fiduciaries or have obligations of best interest, want to offer this product to the retail market.
Clayton stressed the following in relation to the SEC's decision to authorize a spot bitcoin ETF:
Unavoidable is approval. A futures product and a cash product cannot always be in opposition to one another.
Despite having approved various bitcoin futures ETFs, the securities authority has not yet approved a spot bitcoin ETF.
According to Clayton, the SEC was "unsure whether cash trading was so easily manipulable that retail folks should not have access to it" when he served as chairman. He emphasized, though, that "there are now significant institutions with monitoring mechanisms coming in and saying: 'No, that's not the case.' We can trust the cash market's effectiveness to the point where we think it is a reliable product. That is a change.
The SEC opposed Grayscale Investments' plan to transform its flagship bitcoin trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), but earlier this week the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in Grayscale Investments' favor.
Do you concur with Jay Clayton, a former chair of the SEC, that institutional demand for bitcoin and the eventual approval of spot bitcoin ETFs are inevitable? Comment below with your thoughts and let us know.