CBOE President Is Super Bullish On Bitcoin ETF Approval, Intends To Be The First To List

The Securities and Exchange Commission has been in deliberation over the regulations to govern the crypto world, specifically concerning Bitcoin ETFs. There have been multiple rejections for ETFs so far, but it seems that some companies are already preparing for an approval. CBOE Global Markets Inc. is one group that wants to be the first to move in as the SEC decides.

CBOE is based out of Chicago, and they have faith that the SEC will soon be issuing their approval of several changes to their regulatory measures, leading to the first Bitcoin ETF. Based on the opinion of CBEO’s president and COO, Chris Concannon, this process may soon be complete.

He said,

“As we chip away at their issues to make them less concerned, at some point they’ll be comfortable with an ETF.”

He believes that there will just need to be a little movement in the industry to make a way for the ETF to become possible. On this note, Concannon said,

“Having the underlying futures come to market first, prior to an ETF, I think you have a healthier, more mature market. The problem with a futures-based ETF is, what is the right level of liquidity? It’s never been tested before.”

He added,

“There’s a huge first-mover advantage in the ETF world,” he added. Once the assets “come pouring in, it tends to continue. We’ve seen that in other ETFs.”

Most of Concannon’s security in this belief probably comes from the plans that his exchange has already created for the listing of the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin ETF. Their ETF seems to be the most likely one to be accepted, which is only supported by the long letter that VanEck submitted to the agency. The proposal backs their ETF with physical Bitcoin, rather than digital, which sets it apart from other applications for the same protocols.

Hany Rashwan, who is the CEO of a new startup called Amun Technologies, believes that the agreement to accept these proposals could be soon.

In a discussion with Bloomberg, Rashwan said,

“The SEC is likely to delay until February of 2019 and the chances of a Bitcoin ETF approval in 2018 have always been low.”

According to a former SEC employee,

“The four people I still talk to on the daily at the SEC are basically telling me this ‘it is going to get approved but we are going to make the markets understand that we dug really, really deep i.e. investor protection/transparency’. And that makes sense. The vast majority of the public still has no idea what ‘digital assets’ are or what it means. So, when you do an approval like this, and the successive approvals that will follow in this asset class – think of the 3-5-year return number that will be associated with this market? And maybe that is the key to the VanEck SolidX approval? It is set up as an accredited investor vehicle. That singular element is probably what gives so many of us a firm belief in its approval. And it is a stroke of genius by the VanEck SolidX group.”

Though this statement has been published by multiple news outlets, no one has released the name of the source.

The SEC has decided to wait to make a decision about the VanEck proposal until the end of September. As soon as this delay was announced, Bitcoin and the rest of the market experienced a significant correction.