All Bitcoin Spot ETFs should be denied. The promise of a Spot Bitcoin ETF has been used as a narrative by crypto industry insiders, social media personalities, and bad-actors to manipulate the Bitcoin price with misinformation and false promises. Its approval would ultimately be detrimental not just to retail investors, but the integrity of the entire US financial system. 1. Misinformation related to the spot ETF has been intentionally pushed through mainstream crypto media channels and influencers to profit from unsophisticated retail investors. For example, In October 2023 when the publication Cointelegraph falsely posted that the ETF has been approved, it triggered a massive short / gamma squeeze (through offshore options exchanges) which caused extreme upward price swing in Bitcoin. The success of this price manipulation triggered a non-stop flurry of fake news published over the last several months through various channels, which has successfully further pumped the price of Bitcoin. Given the unchecked manipulation with misinformation, there is no true price discovery in this market. 2. Most Bitcoin price movement is driven through offshore crypto exchanges and market makers, largely via unregulated and extremely risky leveraged crypto derivative products. For example Binance, Bitfinex, OKX and Huobi (now HTX), among others offer up to 125x leverage, collateralized by crypto & stablecoins. Most of these exchanges have been charged with, or are under investigation for, various forms of criminal and civil non-compliance by global financial crimes enforcement departments. A Spot Bitcoin ETF brings this systemic market risk into the traditional financial markets. 3. Most Bitcoin price movement is driven by completely unregulated printing of so-called stablecoins. These stablecoins are largely used for money laundering and sanctions evasion (Its been published Tether is currently in the crosshairs of the US FBI & Secret Service). These stablecoins are also used as collateral in the aforementioned unregulated leverage schemes, serving essentially as a counterfeit US Dollar. There is obvious collusion between Exchanges, Market Makers, Hedge Funds, and Stablecoin Issuers to use these leverage schemes to manipulate the price of Bitcoin. 4. Coinbase is listed as custodian for many of the ETFs. They are currently operating as an illegal securities exchange. They also operate several products, such as its USDC Earn program, as an unregistered bank. They clearly open the equivalent of interest-baring bank accounts for customers, substituting $USDC stablecoin for US dollars to try to dodge regulators. The potential future fallout of enforcement against their non-compliance introduces systemic risk into traditional finance markets with the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. 4b. There is also some evidence published in the media that Coinbase has operated an off-shore proprietary trading desk, where customers may be exposed to conflicts of interest. There is no way to guarantee the best interest of retail investors are being safeguarded with any trades or custodial services executed through this exchange. 5. The aforementioned stablecoins purportedly hold a large number of US Treasury products. The effects of an approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF on stablecoins are not fully understood and introduce systemic risk into traditional finance markets with the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. 6. Bitcoin price manipulation has also been used to manipulate the price of traditional securities such as exchange-traded Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin mining stocks, Microstrategy, and Coinbase. This has created an entirely fraudulent market around these security products. 7. There are multiple ongoing civil court cases and bankruptcy proceedings which may result in large amounts of spot Bitcoin to be sold onto the market (for example Mt Gox, Celsius, FTX). The potential effects of this are not adequately expressed to any investor. 8. Crypto media, industry insiders, and influencers have successfully used false and mis-represented data to downplay the criminal usage and manipulation of Bitcoin to investors. Because of this, unsophisticated investors can not fully understand their risk exposure. 9. Crypto media, industry insiders, and influencers, as well as the crypto-industry funded lobby, have spread mass misinformation related to the promise of Bitcoin and Blockchain as a promising mainstream financial technology. Despite 15 years of promises for a transformative, decentralized digital financial system, mass adoption of Blockchain technology has not come to fruition. Furthermore many experiments in mainstream usage of the tech has failed, and the holding, trade, and mining of Bitcoin has become largely centralized. 10. Despite the failure to perform as promoted, the Bitcoin/Crypto/Blockchain industry has spent billions lobbying politicians and recruiting government officials to push their narrative to manipulate the price of bitcoin. This has created false expectations for unsophisticated investors. 11. Control of Bitcoin mining is increasingly moving overseas countries with cheaper, government-subsidized energy, including to sanctioned countries such as Russia. The risks of this are a potential national security concern. A spot Bitcoin ETF introduces this national security risk as a systemic market risk. These are just a handful of the reasons a spot Bitcoin ETF should be denied. I also urge you to to reconsider the Bitcoin Futures ETFs, and investigate the manipulation of all crypto related securities via crypt-market participants.