Fidelity Execs Meet SEC for Bitcoin ETF Approval
Coinspeaker
Fidelity Execs Meet SEC for Bitcoin ETF Approval
In its bid to realize the approval of its Bitcoin ETF, Fidelity Investments, the multinational financial services firm, has pressed further its ambition by setting up a private meeting with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The meeting, which was held on September 8, had the president of an investment firm, Tom Jessop, alongside six other top executives of the company meeting top SEC officials. The financial investment firm gave a number of reasons why the financial regulator should approve their ETF application, citing the growing demand for digital assets and related products, plus the growth of Bitcoin ETFs in several other countries like Brazil, Canada and others.
Fidelity executives also highlighted the massive adoption of Bitcoin across the world and, particularly, in the United States as another reason why the commission should be thinking of approving a Bitcoin ETF.
Away from these reasons, Fidelity noted that a Bitcoin product offers many advantages to the economy. It noted that regulators in other developed markets like Canada, Germany, Sweden etc have joined the trend and have approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) in their domain.
Also, Fidelity used the opportunity to comment on SEC chair Gary Gensler’s remark of the previous month. Then, Gensler had said that the agency could be reviewing only BTC futures products. Fidelity executives argued against this saying that a strict adherence to the 1933 Securities Act which allowed stock exchanges to list products or future only products had become obsolete as the market itself had matured
It is important to note that the 1933 Securities Act was passed in order to ensure the protection of investors’ funds after the shocking crash of the stock market in 1929.
“We believe Bitcoin futures-based products are not a necessary interim step before a Bitcoin ETP; firms should be able to meet investor demand for direct exposure to Bitcoin […] through ETPs because the Bitcoin market has matured and can support them,” said he.
In Fidelity’s view, the crypto market has reached a significant size and already has a “deep liquidity” which is a basic requirement of the SEC.
It would be recalled that the SEC has been very reluctant in approving a Bitcoin ETF. The regulator has always given varying reasons for its reluctance citing investors’ protection amongst other reasons.
This year alone, it has postponed the approval of a number of applications until November 14. Meanwhile, other countries like Canada already have a thriving Bitcoin ETF industry which has continued to witness a growing level of growth and success.