According to the CBOE president, bitcoin ETFs are likely on the way sometime in early 2018.
ETFs have been filed with the SEC several times now and each time they have either been denied or withdrawn.
However, that was mostly due to the fact that the things they were trying to attach them to, didn't even exist yet.
What I mean by that, is that several of the ETFs were designed to be attached to bitcoin futures/options products, which technically didn't even exist yet.
The SEC's response to these ETF applications was more along the lines of, "come see us again when what you plan on attaching the etf to actually is up and trading."
As opposed to an outright, "no way, no how".
Which, as you might have guessed, is a very different situation entirely.
Only a matter of time?
It is looking like the day where a bitcoin ETF exists is inching ever closer by the day.
With the CBOE and CME both competing to be the first to get bitcoin options/futures products up and trading by the end of this year, ETFs seem like the logical next step.
Especially since it would remove the hurdle that the SEC seemed to be expressing as their reasoning for not approving ETF applications in the first place.
The president of the CBOE, Chris Concannon, thinks either way, ETFs are coming soon.
In an earnings call early Tuesday morning, he had this to say:
“With regulated futures of a certain asset class like a bitcoin, you do have an opportunity to introduce ETFs and over time we do envision ETFs coming to market.”
How much time you might ask?
In an interview later on that day, he further went on to state that that he thinks bitcoin ETFs could be here as soon as the middle of 2018.
Validation by a competitor?
The futures/options bitcoin products are starting to see a lot of competition.
At first some were asking if the CBOE was worried that the CME was trying to do something similar to them in terms of launching a bitcoin futures/options product.
Their response to that was pretty reassuring from a cryptocurrency investor's standpoint.
It read as follows:
“The cryptocurrency space is a space that I think we believe in and certainly our competitor across town believes in as well, I’m just encouraged by that validation.”
The CME is validating the belief held by the CBOE that cryptocurrencies are the next big thing.
What a great way to look at things!
A bitcoin ETF would be the holy grail for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as it would open them up to a whole host of other investors.
Futures and Options markets are great, game changers in fact, but the ETF would be the absolute cherry on top that takes these things into the stratosphere.
Stay informed my friends.
*Images courtesy of pixabay.com
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