Home
News
- 1 Steven Schoenfeld recently talked over the approval of the Bitcoin ETF by the SEC.
- 2 More delay in the Bitcoin ETF’s approval may not be good for the industry’s cash flow.
Steven Schoenfeld, the CEO of MarketVector Indexes, spent his day in “London for the CCData Digital Asset Summit.” During the summit, he gave a presentation on “ETFs and the Next Phase of Investment Products: Streamlining Digital Asset Exposure.” Schoenfeld also said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve a Bitcoin ETF in “three to six months.”
A lovely day in #London for the @CCData_io Digital Asset Summit – I’m excited to be presenting on “ETFs and the Next Phase of Investment Products: Streamlining Digital Asset Exposure” and to be here with four of my @MarketVector colleagues #CCDAS#DigitalAssets pic.twitter.com/ljaTWljIrh
— Steven Schoenfeld (@SASchoenfeld) October 3, 2023
CCData is one of the leading Digital Asset Data and index Providers. Its Digital Assets Summit is London’s flagship institutional digital asset summit for digital assets. The summit took place in London between October 2nd to 3rd 2023, where market leaders discussed and accelerated the adoption of the digital asset industry.
The Approval of Bitcoin ETF
Steven Schoenfeld is the former BlackRock Director who gives the SEC “three to six months” before it approves a Bitcoin spot ETF. He gave his estimate during a panel discussion on ETFs at CCData’s Digital Asset Summit. Here, he was joined by another ex-BlackRock director Martin Bednall, who is now the CEO of Jacobi Asset Management.
In response to comments made by Bednall earlier, Schoenfeld said that “the SEC will probably approve [all ETF applications] at the same time; I don’t think they want to give anybody first mover advantage.”
Notably, the two former managing directors at BlackRock have said that U.S. approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is basically “a done deal.”
Previously Schoenfeld said he would have given the industry “nine to twelve months” before an approval, but the recent decision by the SEC to delay giving verdicts on several pending ETF applications is unlike previous delaying tactics by the regulator.
As Schoenfeld said “Instead of completely rejecting the whole list, they’ve asked for comments, which is a marginal but significant improvement in the dialogue. There’s also the Grayscale lawsuit, which the SEC lost, which means they’re most likely going to have to allow the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to be converted into an ETF.”
BlackRock’s Early Attempt
According to a recent media report, BlackRock, an investment management company, poses as the likely contender to get a Bitcoin spot ETF approved. It has a win score of 575-1 when it comes to getting ETFs approved through the SEC.
As per the report, nobody would have seen it coming back in 2017 when BlackRock chief Larry Fink called Bitcoin an “index of money laundering.” Fast forward to summer 2023: Fink appeared on FOX News and said that crypto “is digitizing gold in many ways.”
During CCData’s panel discussion, Bednall said he “believes in any case that the traditional financial muscle, in terms of both brand and resources, will give BlackRock a first-mover advantage should the SEC decide to start approving Bitcoin spot ETFs.” On the other hand, Schoenfeld was more temperate in his views about their former company’s foray into crypto.
Mr. Pratik chadhokar is an Indian Forex, Cryptocurrencies and Financial Market Advisor and analyst with a background in IT and Financial market Strategist. He specialises in market strategies and technical analysis and has spent over a year as a financial markets contributor and observer. He possesses strong technical analytical skills and is well known for his entertaining and informative analysis of the Financial markets.
