Markets
Senate Questions SEC Commissioner Over Bitcoin ETF Fraud Concerns
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw informed senators on Thursday that she failed to approve bitcoin exchange-traded products earlier this year due to widespread fraud in cryptocurrency markets.
During a Senate Banking Committee nomination hearingCrenshaw and other Senate confirmation candidates have submitted their records for review. Only a small amount of attention has been paid to cryptocurrency concerns, even when it comes to questioning Crenshaw about his upcoming tenure at the SEC.
After losing a legal battle with Grayscale in January, the SEC has changed its stance on bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Commissioner Crenshaw maintains oppositionarguing that they are exchange-traded products (ETPs), not ETFs, which are subject to separate regulations.
According to the commissioner, the agency’s approval of Bitcoin (BTC) products “will set us on an errant path that could further sacrifice investor protection.”
She reiterated on Thursday that she felt compelled to oppose it “given the significant fraud in the underlying spot markets globally, given the opacity,” while also considering whether it was in the public interest.
In January, Crenshaw worried that such products would flood the market, affecting Americans’ retirement savings due to fraud in the bitcoin spot markets. His organization is currently exploring comparable trading tools for Ethereum’s ether (ETH).
Read too: US Senate Pushes Defense Department to Explore Blockchain