Jul. 04, 2021
I am a layman retail investor, and I would like to have the option to invest in a Bitcoin ETF, if I so choose. Below, I am attempting to answer the five questions outlined in the Order. I lack the sophistication to give an academically informed response, but will do my best to answer those questions. All securities governed by the SEC are subject to manipulation. As a retail investor I see shorting, naked shorting, hit pieces designed to support short sellers, etc., and no protection from the SEC for these. An ETF might dilute the impact, but there is always going to be manipulation. I want the freedom to invest in a BTC ETF. I understand caveat emptor. Cryptocurrencies have become significantly more mainstream in the past year, and certainly since 2016. SEC Chairperson Hester Peirce has said that there’s no reason that a BTC ETF should not have already been approved. Someone inside your own agency understands this. Section 19 (the “Act”) discusses application and approval of securities, as best I can understand. Please tell me exactly where in the Act where it discusses listing and trading of Shares as it relates to this ETF and I’ll try to give you a better answer to this question. We may have a chicken/egg situation with the BTC ETF. The NASDAQ estimates that 46 million Americans are invested in BTC (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/about-46-million-americans-now-own-bitcoin-2021-05-14) By allowing trading of a BTC ETF, this will mitigate concerns by legitimizing it Federally. Without an SEC approval, we’ll have to wait for China and Russia to recognize BTC fully. I don’t have the time to investigate the CME and BTC. This question is a false equivalency. The SEC can’t pretend to care about manipulation when it comes to BTC, and not act to curtail other forms of market manipulation. There might be manipulation, but with more BTC ETFs, it will become harder for hedge-fund managers to manipulate the market because of greater institutional investing, or because they will also be (more) invested. Please feel free to email, write or call me. Thank you. Steve Condrill