Apr. 3, 2024
Dear SEC, I met with the SEC in Washington in January 2020 to introduce The Bitcoin Fund, which was about to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Subsequently, my firm listed The Ether Fund. Both were closed-end funds built with the highest aspirations for institutional quality to serve investor demand. The SEC staff was incredibly knowledgeable. Since then, Canadian asset managers have listed 40 products on the TSX that span ETFs on Bitcoin and Ether, as well as combinations of those digital assets. Innovative products that provide yield from covered call writing and from staking exist on the TSX. These products serve investors' choices in a traditional investment channel. Please examine the tracking of these products to their indexes. These are professionally designed and managed products that serve investors in a regulated marketplace. Please approve the slate of Ether ETFs as soon as possible. The CFTC has deemed ETH a commodity. The initial sale was less than ideal, but today, ETH works as a new technological platform and should be available as a commodity-based investment fund for US investors. Notably, the Grayscale Ether fund, ETHE, has traded well without the loss of funds. Their management of GBTC since its inception shows that such products can be managed professionally, and the SEC can have confidence in asset managers' ability to apply professional processes to a novel asset that follows the law. The success of the Bitcoin ETFs shows that investors want access to digital asset exposure through regulated investment channels. Given that Bitcoin is regulated by the CFTC and has futures traded in the same way Ether does, it would be arbitrary and unjustified for the SEC to deny these applications. I manage digital asset investments professionally and hold positions in Bitcoin and Ether through exchange-listed products. Thank you, Shaun Cumby CEO, Virgo Digital Asset Management Inc.