Bitcoin ETF Approval Has Sparked Bloomberg Editors’ Concern; Here’s Why

The decision made more than one week ago by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs has met with mixed feelings from some Bloomberg editors who strongly believe that the move was premature. 

Regulation First Before Bitcoin ETF Approval

According to a post shared by senior Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart on X, the editors in question are not happy about the Bitcoin ETF approval. In the editorial, it was clearly stated that Gary Gensler, SEC Chair, went against the objections of his fellow Democratic commissioners to endorse the new Bitcoin product. 

In his defense, Gensler stated that the decision was “the most sustainable path forward” after a U.S. court slammed the agency’s attempt to deny an application. By this reference, the SEC boss was referring to its legal debacle with Grayscale over the asset management firm’s request to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a physically backed ETF product. 

The Grayscale-SEC case was in court for a very long time until August 2023 when the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed Grayscale a win against the U.S securities watchdog. In addition, the SEC was mandated by the court to revisit Grayscale’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Reformation of the Crypto Market

Even with the mention of the Grayscale lawsuit, Bloomberg editors do not share his sentiment on the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. Instead, they highlighted how unregulated the cryptocurrency market is at the moment, referring to it as a “mess”. 

Past unsavory events like the implosion of FTX, Binance’s guilty plea, and $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as the securities violation lawsuits against Coinbase, Kraken, and others were highlighted by these displeased editors. Rather than approve spot BTC ETFs, they believe that the agency should have focused on reforming the unregulated spot market first. 

Since the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF, the market has not been performing badly. Earlier, Seyffart reported that the cumulative trading volumes of all spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $10 billion within the first three days of their introduction. As of today, more Bitcoin ETF applications are still dropping on the SEC’s desk.

Although, the price of Bitcoin has not reacted as expected to the Bitcoin ETF product. At the time of this writing, BTC is trading at $42,854.64, up by 0.67% in 24 hours.