Spot bitcoin ETF approval is ‘inevitable,’ says former SEC chairman

The United States will eventually have a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to Jay Clayton, former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “It is clear that bitcoin is not a security. It is clear that bitcoin is something that retail investors want access to, institutional investors want access to, and, importantly, some of our most trusted providers who are fiduciaries or have duties of best interest want to provide this product to the retail public.

Futures-based bitcoin ETFs already exist in the U.S., but the SEC has yet to approve a spot bitcoin ETF. Earlier this week, in the Grayscale vs. SEC case, a federal court ruled that there was no justification for the SEC to allow bitcoin futures-based ETFs but deny spot bitcoin ETFs because fraud and manipulation in the bitcoin spot market pose a similar risk to both futures and spot products because the spot bitcoin market and the CME bitcoin futures market are so tightly correlated. Therefore, the SEC’s rejection of Grayscale’s proposal to convert its bitcoin trust (GBTC) into an ETF was “arbitrary and capricious” because the agency failed to explain its different treatment of similar products, the court ruled