Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Investments’ digital assets division, and his colleagues at the meeting with SEC officials presented arguments in favour of approving a Bitcoin ETF.
Among them was the push to popularisation cryptocurrencies, which, among other things, is reflected in rising demand for cryptocurrency-related products and the appearance of similar funds in other countries.
Representatives from Fidelity drew attention to the structures launched around the first cryptocurrency in Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.
The financial group also highlighted that the market has reached a maturity level that allows relaxing the strict compliance with the Securities Act of 1933.
Thus the experts commented on the statement by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on the conditions for approving the SEC’s Bitcoin ETF — compliance with the Investment Company Act of 1940 and CME futures as its underlying asset.
“Launching such products does not represent a necessary intermediate step before the launch of an ETP. Firms should satisfy investors’ demand for direct use of Bitcoin. The market has matured for this.”, the specialists noted.
Fidelity believes Bitcoin has reached both high liquidity and ‘substantial size’ by the SEC’s own standards.
The financial conglomerate filed an application to launch a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund, Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, in March 2021. In May the regulator began reviewing it.
In July, Fidelity Digital Assets announced a 70% expansion of its staff due to institutional interest in cryptocurrency.
As noted, Grayscale Investments’ head of digital assets Mike Sonnenshein urged the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF based on futures as well as spot-based products.
In August, Bloomberg analysts predicted that the Commission would approve a Bitcoin ETF by the end of October. The frontrunner, they said, was the ProShares filing.
VanEck, Valkyrie Investments, Invesco, Galaxy Digital and AdvisorShares have also filed applications to launch products in line with the regulator’s latest guidance.
Subscribe to ForkLog updates on VK!