July 11, 2018
A bitcoin ETF would mitigate the risk for many inexperienced investors, many of whom are either very young or very old and may have trouble managing the technical side of holding bitcoin. Younger investors may be better at holding bitcoin and managing their private keys, but are inexperienced when it comes to finance, trading, and investing and may hurt themselves easily in the cut-throat and often predatory exchange markets. Older investors may have good technical analysis skills and more discipline when it comes to trading and reading technical cues, however they may have many issues when it comes to understanding the tech behind blockchain and cryptocurrency, the aspect of sending BTC to addresses, creating wallets, and protecting their private key from theft.
Crypto in its current state is very basic and not user friendly when it comes to sending it and holding tokens across various mediums, wallets, and exchanges. A streamlined ETF would make it easy for both new and experienced investors alike to benefit from the rise of crypto technology while mitigating the risks of holding it in shady exchanges or falling for predatory market tricks by allowing professionals whom are knowledgeable in crypto and technical analysis trading to mitigate risk and maximize earnings for all parties. This would ensure a more efficient market in this growing market.
Remove the accredited investors restriction. Wealth is not a measure of intelligence and non accredited investors, believe it or not, actually have brains, too. Please open up this ETF to all investors. Then approve it.
Also, too many exchanges are getting hacked. We need different investment instruments that enable more secure environments, with custodial services and cold storage.
In 10 or 20 years, the global balance of power will shift towards countries that have amassed the most digital gold (like Bitcoin).
Approving this ETF will allow Americans to amass Bitcoin through their normal brokerage account.
This will ensure America remains the #1 economy as the world shifts from legacy money to digital assets.
Reprioritizing in emerging technology markets is inevitable. Cryptocurrency is fast becoming a trillion dollar industry. The SEC can take the offense and catch the crypto currency wave on it's way up. This assures the US remains a leading force in the global regulatory economy. Or the SEC can take the defense and let other more proactive countries in the emerging cryptocurrency market catch the SEC off guard. With other countries like Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Malta already taking positive regulatory measures towards institutionalizing crypto, the US is at risk of losing it's position as the global regulatory economy leader.
Regardless, a priority shift is inevitable. Playing defense with legacy regulatory models at the expense of playing offense with the emerging crypto market can have negative long term consequences for the US. None of us want US leadership to go the way of Netscape, Commodore, or Blackberry. Leadership at these companies took a defensive stance towards emerging technology. And all of us want the US to go the way of Apple, Amazon, and Sales Force. Leadership at these companies took an offensive stance towards emerging technology.
The faster the SEC regulates an ETF, the lower the chance money will flow into exchanges into less regulated jurisdictions. The longer the SEC waits to enact an ETF, the more money is at risk of flowing into unregulated jurisdictions. This could put investor money at risk, which goes against the values of the SEC.
I would urge the SEC to immediately take a globally offensive regulatory stance towards the SR-CboeBZX-2018-040.
As a citizen of this great country, I implore you to consider authorizing the BTC ETFs that are currently under consideration. This can be a pivotal step on a long road of revitalization and innovation for our country and we can not afford to let other nations get ahead of us in the crypto-currency space.
Not providing a solution here funnels money to companies with less regulatory oversight. This increases the likelihood of fraud and theft. It also discourages innovation, from the United States, in technology that could have global significance. Japan is institutionalizing Bitcoin and the United States doesn’t want to be too far behind.
Please help solve this problem by approving a regulated ETF from two respected institutions, that will allow accredited investors to be able to allocate a portion of our money into an asset class that offers asymmetrical upside and increased diversification in our portfolios.
As they say, adapt or die.
Sincerely,
Jesse Bost