The US Securities and Exchange Commission officially rejected the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application that was filed by the Winklevoss twins. The SEC cited lack of measures in the ETF to prevent price manipulation.
“The Commission addresses each of these arguments below. In Section III.B, the Commission addresses BZX’s assertion that bitcoin and bitcoin markets, including the Gemini Exchange, are uniquely resistant to manipulation and finds that the record before the Commission does not support such a conclusion,” the official SEC announcement read, via Forbes.
The proposed ETF lacks tools for identifying fraud and more
The SEC also highlighted the fact that the proposed ETF by the twins who oversee a major US crypto exchange Gemini, doesn’t have enough tools to identify and deter fraud and manipulation that could impose a negative impact on the price movement of Bitcoin.
Almost instantly after the release of the SEC’s statement, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce expressed a massive disappointment with this decision that rejected the Bitcoin ETF.
SEC Commissioner does not agree
Peirce noted that Bitcoin as an asset is regulated and mature enough to be worthy of the US markets.
“Apparently, Bitcoin is not ripe enough, respectable enough, or regulated enough to be worthy of our markets,” Peirce stated.
Peirce continued and said that the Commission’s approach seems to undermine investor protection by precluding greater institutionalization of the Bitcoin market.
Unfortunately, after SEC’s statement, Bitcoin’s price dropped by more than 4% within a one-hour period, from $8,315 to $7,930. It was profoundly affected by the rejection of the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF.
Over the past week, Bitcoin and the other cryptos in the market have been doing pretty great, and they experienced a massive rally that was supported by a volume spike. In just two days, 25-26 July, the volume of Bitcoin surged from $3 billion to $ 6.3 billion.