May. 04, 2022
Hello, I'm writing to you as an investment advisor who has spent a considerable amount of time studying the crypto industry. I believe the SEC is doing a huge disservice to investors by not approving a spot Bitcoin ETF. Having a product easily available to investors through their existing brokerage channels would make it far easier and less susceptible to scams and screw ups than by forcing them to learn the nuances of the crypto industry. I am only referring to Bitcoin as it is the largest and most secure of the truly decentralized protocols. The 95%+ of protocols that are not decentralized, as the SEC has indicated, should be registered as a security. That aspect of centralization and a smaller size is where the SEC should be concerned, not with Bitcoin. Other countries (Canada, Australia, etc.) have already approved spot ETF's with no issues of manipulation or lack of investor protections. Everyone knows that the SEC's reasonings at this point for not approving an ETF applicatoin hold very little water. At a minimum, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's (GBTC) application should be approved since they have shown for years now that they are able to securely custody spot Bitcoin. With GBTC now at roughly $40 billion in AUM but the trust trading at a significant discount to NAV, the real risk of not protecting investors has come at the unnecessary underperformance and potential losses from the trust sliding into a deep discount and not settling at NAV each day. The SEC is hurting investors at this point, not protecting them, from gaining exposure to this new and innovative asset class so I ask that you take this into consideration in your decision making. I can be reached at this email address or the number below with questions. Thank you, Nick Lumpp -- Nicholas Lumpp | President RCN Wealth Advisors, Inc. A Simpler Way