Apr. 12, 2022
To Secretary Gensler and the Commissioners of the SEC: I write in support of the request to approve GBTC as a spot ETF. This is much needed addition to the retirement plans for millions of Americans not unable to participate in an attractive investment opportunity. It would be congruent with our national interest to be a leader in this field. Our leadership is under stack from many fronts and unnecessary delay in establishing a regulatory framework that can support such spot ETF’s as the current GBTC under consideration, is threatening to place us at a disadvantage in the competitive world of international financial services. It would be a positive step in support of President Biden’s mandate to establish regulatory frameworks for cyber products. As the largest cyber currency by far a Bitcoin ETF should not lag but be a leader. A futures-based ETF, while linked to a large scale exchange, is actually subject to more possible manipulation than the large international free market for BTC. The spot market is an excellent price discovery market. A spot-based ETF would be available at much lower fees and with no premium or discount in price, a current disadvantage of GBTC cause by the inability to offer a spot ETF and thus the need to rely on a closed end trust. This is a negative for individual investors, whereas the Spot ETF would remove these disadvantages and save GBTC investors large amounts of money. I am investor in GBTC in my retirement account; I think it is not a good policy that Canadian and European can invest in these products and do so successfully and in well-regulated markets, but I am prohibited from doing so. We should be leaders not followers in offering new financial products to our citizens. The SEC’s dawdling on this matter risks enhancing the demise of the US global financial dominance. We need leadership, not fear of change. Please approve this GBTC application at the earliest opportunity. Respectfully submitted Edward W Hearne