What Experts Think about a Possible Bitcoin ETF

Since 2017, SEC has turned down at least three bitcoin ETF applications (including the Winklevoss twins on two occasions) from different groups citing specific reasons for such denials. This has not stopped the surfacing of new applications. Just last month three groups that have been turned down before (CBOE, VanEcK and SolidX) returned with revised applications.

This latest development has reignited the influx of opinions and predictions to how necessary the ETF is to bitcoin and the possible effects of any form of approval of such. While some experts do not see the necessity of an ETF for bitcoin, others believe that is will be a major catalyst for the next big move and possible establishment of the cryptocurrency in the mainstream.

Here are the opinions of a few experts who told CCN how much they believe an ETF will affect the development of bitcoin.

An Interesting Idea
Founder of Netcoins, Michael Vogel sees the possibility of a bitcoin ETF as “an interesting idea” even though he does not think that such is crucial to bitcoin’s long term success.

According to Vogel, many see an ETF approval as another step forward to legitimizing bitcoin in the eyes of Wall Street and the world of traditional finance because it would ultimately put bitcoin (as a trading instrument) in the hands of conventional traders. However, he believes that it would also denote a significant step forward in terms of the comfort level that regulators display around cryptocurrency, given the extreme hesitancy around past ETF applications.

“A large ETF would likely have a significant impact on bitcoin prices as well, not just due to trading volume but simply because of the volume of bitcoin that it would remove from the liquid trading market (because the BTC would need to be permanently held by the ETF corporation)”.