SEC Commissioner Heister Peirce, Disapproves the move of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rejecting Wilshire Phoenix's Proposal for Bitcoin ETFs


Securities and Exchange Commission’s
Commissioner Heister Peirce, who is popularly known as Crypto mum among the
Crypto community is known for her fierce views favoring the cryptocurrencies.
Recently she again has expressed discord
with the SEC’s decision to dismiss the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) bided by the
Wilshire. While dissenting with the decision of the SEC, she acknowledged that
SEC is unfair and has constantly been shifting the standards for Bitcoin (BTC).
The SEC has once again had rejected the
Bitcoin ETF on the grounds of its capability to manipulate the markets and
lacking central interference and surveillance.
She quoted, “This line of disapprovals
leads me to conclude that this commission is unwilling to approve any product
that would provide access to the market for Bitcoin that no filing will meet
the ever-shifting standards that this Commission insists on applying the
Bitcoin-related products –and only to Bitcoin-related products."
In a filing posted on Wednesday, 26
February, the Regulatory Commission wrote the New York-based Wilshire Phoenix
that the Bitcoin (BTC) market is non-resistant to market manipulation. Wilshire
Phoenix is a startup in financial services that had bided for the ETF last
summer with NYSA Arca.
“The commission concluded that the NYSE
Arca has not made its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission's Rules of
Practice demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirement of Exchange
Act Section 6(b)(5) and in particular the requirement that the rules of a
national securities exchange be designated to prevent fraudulent and
manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public
interest.”
It is interesting to note that the SEC has
rejected all the previous proposals of the Bitcoin ETF filed by Wilshire and
others as well. William Herrmann, Managing Director of Wilshire, said that they
have added the treasury bonds to Bitcoin. These funds will automatically
rebalance itself addressing the Bitcoins price volatility. If the crypto currency’s
price fluctuates too often and too much then the fund would be invested more into
bonds. This will stabilize its position and after the stabilization, it will
reverse the move.
This automatic rebalancing came as a
solution response to the SECs’s previous dismissals to the proposal.
Last year, the Commission had also rejected
Bitwise Asset Management’s proposal for Bitcoin ETF for the same reasons.
Several such ETF proposals have been rejected by the SEC under the concern that
the Bitcoin market is not significant in volumes and it can easily be
manipulated.
Commissioner Heister Peirce also said that
it is absurd on the part of SEC to keep rejecting the ETF Bitcoin it can
provide a safe and properly regulated investment opportunity for the Americans
to invest.
It seems that it may take a few more years
to change the policy of the SEC to make it more Crypto friendly and BTC
friendly.
Looking at SEC’s stern stand, the majority
of experts now have concluded that the Bitcoin ETF will not be allowed at least
in 2020

Jayashree Ingle
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA