Bad news for investors who want to get into bitcoin but are not yet able to do so for a number of reasons. Yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission once again opposed the creation of the Bitcoin ETF and postponed the decision to a later date. We are talking about July or even August.
Why is Bitcoin ETF so important to the market? The answer is very simple. The creation of this kind of instrument will bring new investors to the market, who now have problems with investing in this asset class. There can be a lot of reasons: starting from banal prohibitions and ending with the complexity of the investment mechanism, transferring funds to exchanges, buying assets and storing them, and most importantly - protection at the legislative level. ETFs would eliminate all of these problems in one fell swoop by helping to attract new institutional investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that it wants more public comment on the proposal to list a new product on Cboe Global Markets Inc. This is not the first time this year that the SEC has postponed such a decision and its response to a large number of applications for the creation of such funds.
As I noted above, crypto enthusiasts have long been disenchanted with the agency's reluctance to endorse the creation of a Bitcoin ETF that would help bring the new asset class into the institutional investor environment.
Let me remind you that this year the head of the SEC was replaced, who, according to experts, is more loyal to cryptocurrencies and digital assets. But nothing much has changed since Gary Gensler took over the position in April of this year. The commission continues to express concern that there is a lack of proper supervision of cryptocurrency exchanges. A new SEC report also revealed the existence of risks associated with investing mutual funds in bitcoin futures, further alerting the commission.
Yesterday, the SEC again asked the public to weigh all aspects that are necessary to approve the first application of the VanEck Associates Corp. ETF. The Securities and Exchange Commission has set a deadline for a response – July of this year, but experts believe that this is not enough. Most likely, the focus will be shifted to August of this year.
Here are some of the agency's key questions:
Will the trust and shares associated with the ETF be subject to manipulation?
How to deal with fraudulent schemes and market manipulation?
How transparent is Bitcoin?
How has Bitcoin market regulation changed over the past five years?
If the SEC gets answers to these basic questions, the case may move forward, which will be a new stage for both the cryptocurrency industry as a whole and for digital assets.
In the meantime, the Commission and the U.S. Federal Reserve also plan to focus on stablecoins, which cause no less headaches than ETFs. In recent weeks, lawmakers and Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly expressed concern that some consumers would not actually be protected if one of the stablecoin firms suddenly started having problems. They are also worried that the growing size of stablecoins creates a situation where a huge number of coins equivalent to the U.S. dollar are exchanged without affecting the U.S. banking system, which creates a good ground for financing criminal schemes.
As for the technical picture of Bitcoin, against the background of the above news, the cryptocurrency bounced from the level of $41,100 and stabilized in the middle of the channel. Just above $41,100, the 200-day moving average passes, which can create a lot of problems for buyers. Therefore, only a break in this range with the subsequent exit of the pair beyond $41,100 will open a direct path to the world's first cryptocurrency in the areas of $46,700 and $52,000. However, such a sharp jump can only be expected after a real consolidation above $41,100. If there is no active growth above this range immediately, this may lead to a repeated return to the area of the middle of the side channel ($36,300). It will also be necessary to carefully assess the activity of buyers, as an attempt may be made to build a new upward trend from this level.
As for the technical picture of ether, everything is also calm. The volatility from the low of $1,748 to the major resistance of $2,900 is gradually decreasing. The middle of the channel and, accordingly, the support is the important level of $2,260, which the bears have repeatedly fought, but it is not yet possible to overcome. If there is a breakdown, I think we will see an instant decline in the ether to the support area of $1,748. In the meantime, the bulls are aiming for a break of the $2,900 resistance, which will open a direct road to a high of $3,558.