With the futures market of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) recently launched, people speculate with the idea of approving a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for real this time. And according to CBOE’s CEO, Edward Tilly, this could actually be true.
In an interview with a news webiste, Tilly shown they have plans for gathering information from futures trading to fill a case to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in order to approve Bitcoin ETFs and exchange-traded notes (ETNs).
In his own words, “All of that information goes into building the next steps. One of those potential next steps would be moving into ETFs and ETNs that would take SEC approval”.
Knocking SEC’s door (again)
A Bitcoin ETF would attract more investors to the growing cryptomarket, and considering that global ETF assets have had a growth of around 12% compared to last year (from $4.8 trillion to $5.3 trillion), it would really become an attractive asset for retail investors.
But then, there’s the SEC. And a previous reject of this proposal.
In March of this year, the SEC denied a proposal of Bitcoin ETF made by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of BTC exchange Gemini, citing the risk of fraud and lack of regulation on Bitcoin markets, and adding that they believe cryptocurrencies are still in early stages of development, and once their markets fully grow, they would reconsider their current decision.
Nine months have passed since such decision were issued. A good amount of Bitcoin futures are working right now, and this could pose an opportunity to reach SEC’s door and knocking on again. In order to achieve this, Tilly and his company will be evaluating all the data regarding volatility spikes, liquidity and settlement process of Bitcoin futures (thanks to their partnership with Gemini), and depending on the outcomes of such evaluations, future conversations could be arranged for reverting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision.
New opportunities for businesses
Following the BTC futures market launching, CBOE will take a measured approach to have other contracts on the baking, according to Tilly.
“While this is our first foray into bitcoin, it is not to the exclusion of other currency going forward. The relationship with Gemini allows for any of the digital currencies that we think will will meet listing criteria as we learn more from our first launch with bitcoin”, said the CEO.
Although he stated that derivatives on Satoshi’s coin are not going to make sense in the next two or three months, he still believes that at some point they will.
