Subscribe
May 19, 2026
Sign In

Capitalizations Index – B ∞/21M

Menu
Breaking
Why Bitcoin Maximalists View Bitcoin as the Ultimate Asset Bitcoin Sparks Creation of Thousands of Alternative Cryptocurrencies Using Bitcoin Without Internet: SMS & Satellite Solutions Understanding Bitcoin Whales: Key Holders of Large Bitcoin Amounts Bitcoin’s Fixed Supply Schedule: Immutable by Design

CBOE President Cautiously Hopeful on Bitcoin ETF Prospects Despite SEC Action

Cboe president cautiously hopeful on bitcoin etf prospects despite sec action

CBOE President Cautiously Hopeful on Bitcoin ETF Prospects Despite SEC Action


Bitcoin etf cboe president chris concannon
Advertisement

CBOE Global Markets Inc. could well become the first company to win approval for a bitcoin ETF, but whether that coveted accomplishment materializes remains to be seen.

For his part, Chris Concannon, CBOE’s president and CEO, said that he is optimistic that the Securities and Exchange Commission will grant his wish, but he recognizes that there are challenges remaining, according to Bloomberg.

Challenges Remain

The SEC last week postponed acting on a proposal to allow such a fund from SolidXPartners Inc. and VanEck Associates Corp. to list on CBOE, underscoring the commission’s wariness of a bitcoin ETF. The commission had previously rejected an ETF proposal from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, owners of the Gemini Trust Co. cryptocurrency exchange, as well as an earlier solo proposal from SolidXPartners Inc.

The vigilance reflects the SEC’s concern about possible manipulation in the largely unregulated cryptocurrency market.

CBOE and fellow Chicago exchange CME Group Inc. both began offering bitcoin futures contracts in December, the first significant bitcoin entries into mainstream finance. Such futures are traded in regulated markets and could provide the foundation for an ETF instead of the cryptocurrency itself.

CBOE Addresses SEC Concerns

Sec ico cryptocurrency
The SEC has not yet given a stock exchange permission to list a bitcoin ETF. | Source: Shutterstock

CBOE’s ETF filing emphasized that it will only invest in bitcoin for the benefit of investors, facilitating over-the-counter trades among accredited market investors and insuring the funds that are invested in bitcoin. The SEC had previously voiced concern about insufficient insurance for cryptocurrency investors.

Concannon said the futures provide a more mature and healthier market, but a futures-based ETF raises the question of what is the correct liquidity level since such a product has not yet been tested.

bitcoin futures trading volumes have not matched the levels of commodities like oil or gold. But waiting for additional liquidity to introduce an ETF poses a dilemma. While the ETF would raise the level of futures trading, the SEC is reluctant to approve the ETF if there is not sufficient liquidity in its underlying futures.

Other players, meanwhile, are moving ahead with proposals. The New York Stock Exchange plans to offer a physically-settled cryptocurrency futures contract this year.

Also read: SEC denies SolidX bid for bitcoin ETF listing

First ETF Expected To Lead The Market

Concannon said having the first bitcoin ETF would be a market advantage. Once an ETF is approved, the inflow of capital will continue, based on the precedent set by other ETFs.

Whether Concannon’s hopes are borne out remains to be seen. The futures contracts were introduced at a time when bitcoin’s price was skyrocketing, leading some to believe that the Wall Street community was welcoming digital assets and an ETF would be the next step. CBOE and CME bitcoin futures trading, however, did not increase to the levels that many expected, and the bitcoin price has taken a sharp downturn in 2018.

Concannon admitted that publicity has outpaced trading volume, noting that the size of the cryptocurrency market is one-fifth that of Apple.

Featured Image from John Lothian News/YouTube

Follow us on Telegram or subscribe to our newsletter here.
• Join CCN’s crypto community for $9.99 per month, click here.
• Want exclusive analysis and crypto insights from Hacked.com? Click here.
• Open Positions at CCN: Full Time and Part Time Journalists Wanted.

Advertisement


Published at Tue, 14 Aug 2018 22:59:46 +0000

bitcoin Progress

Previous Article

Binance: Stop-Limit Orders Explained, Stop-Limit vs. Stop-Loss difference

 Next Article

#222 Amir Bandeali & Will Warren: 0x Protocol and the Decentralized Exchange Frontier

You might be interested in …

NO2X: Next Week’s Hard Fork Has Been “Suspended” Due to a Lack of Consensus

b2xcancel

There will almost certainly be no bitcoin hard fork next week: the main organizers behind the SegWit2x project have “suspended” their efforts.

In an email to the SegWit2x mailing list, one of the main organizers behind the project, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, explained that the proposed hard fork has not been able to gain sufficient consensus to proceed:

“Although we strongly believe in the need for a larger blocksize, there is something we believe is even more important: keeping the community together. Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time.”

The New York Agreement was originally forged between a group of bitcoin companies in May of this year. An initiative by Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, the project — later dubbed “SegWit2x” — was to combine activation of the Segregated Witness soft fork with a hard fork to double bitcoin’s block weight limit. With Segregated Witness activated on the bitcoin network this past summer, arguably helped by the SegWit2x project, the hard fork was scheduled to take place next week.

However, the hard fork part of the New York Agreement was always controversial for a number of reasons. As a result, a growing number of signatories dropped out of the agreement over the past weeks and months, while developers, user communities, public polls, future markets and more all indicated limited support for the effort. And as the hard fork date drew closer, it become increasingly clear that SegWit2x would in fact spawn a new currency rather than constitute an upgrade of the bitcoin protocol.

And this was never the plan, Belshe wrote:

“Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x.”

Belshe’s email was also signed on behalf of Xapo CEO Wences Casares, Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu, Bloq CEO Jeff Garzik, Blockchain CEO Peter Smith and ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees. In a separate blog post published just before Belshe’s email, BitPay CEO Stephen Pair also called for cancelation of the hard fork.

While the New York Agreement was signed by even more companies (and some individuals), and anyone can still deploy the hard fork, it is unlikely that anyone will proceed with the hard fork in any meaningful way.

Belshe does, however, note that a hard fork to increase bitcoin’s block weight limit might be needed in the future, writing:

“As fees rise on the blockchain, we believe it will eventually become obvious that on-chain capacity increases are necessary. When that happens, we hope the community will come together and find a solution, possibly with a blocksize increase.”

The post NO2X: Next Week’s Hard Fork Has Been “Suspended” Due to a Lack of Consensus appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin_nocashday-29

bitcoin_nocashday-29

bitcoin_nocashday-29By CashlessWay – Global Hub for ePayment Culture on 2014-06-28 09:38:54[wpr5_ebay kw=”bitcoin” num=”1″ ebcat=”” cid=”5338043562″ lang=”en-US” country=”0″ sort=”bestmatch”]

Close Menu