SEC Commissioner: Although spot BTC ETF was approved, it was a “wasted decade”

Source: Blockchain Knight

SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) finally approved the trading of spot BTC ETF on Wednesday as expected, but several SEC members also spoke out Describes the toll this lengthy process of waiting for approval has taken on the institution, investors, and the Crypto asset industry.

SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, a long-time advocate of crypto assets and known to fans as the “Mother of Crypto Assets,” issued a statement regarding Wednesday’s SEC approval action. Prior to this, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also issued a statement on the approval of the long-awaited BTC ETF, but his tone was relatively reluctant.

Pierce said: “Today marks the end of a saga that is not necessary but important.The United States submitted its first spot BTC ETF application more than 10 years ago, and I have been working at the SEC for six years. Among them, the question of why spot BTC ETF is needed often arises."

Pierce also added: "For reasons I have explained many times before, the focus on spot BTC ETFs over the past decade has been The logic of the denial is convoluted. Predicting the approval timeline for spot BTC ETPs is impossible because the review process for these documents is different from the fairly straightforward process of approving similar ETPs. As the European Commission slaps a rejection on one application after another Labels, forwarding thresholds have been changing."

Peirce pointed out: "The SEC has not taken any previous action, resulting in retail investors accessing BTC in a less efficient way in the securities market, and the SEC Instead of admitting its mistake, it gave a weak explanation for its original intention to change."

"This wasted ten years of our work opportunities. If we adopt the same method as other commodity ETPs, Standards, we could have approved these products years ago, but we refused to do so until the court warned us.”

The SEC’s final decision to approve a spot BTC ETF was preceded by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in It was ruled in August that the agency must review crypto company Grayscale’s application to convert its BTC trust into a true ETF. The judge wrote that without a “coherent explanation” as to why the spot BTC ETF was rejected, the rejection would appear to be “illegal”.

Gensler referred to the court’s ruling in his own statement, writing that while the latest BTC ETF application is similar to previous attempts, “circumstances have changed.”

Gensler continued: “Based on these circumstances and what was more fully discussed in the approval order, I believe the most sustainable path forward is to approve the listing and trading of these spot BTC ETPs.”

Peirce speculated that despite Wednesday’s approval, “the order does not undo the many harms caused by differential treatment of spot BTC products.” She then dives into a series of specific issues that she believes have been caused by the SEC’s staunch opposition to Crypto assets over the past decade.

She explained: “First,our arbitrary and capricious handling of applications in this area will continue to damage our reputation well beyond the reach of Crypto assets. Public trust A reduction in the degree of oversight will inhibit our ability to effectively regulate our markets. This incident will taint future interactions between the industry and our employees and will undermine the rich, informative dialogue that is the best way to protect investors ."

Peirce further noted that she believed this was a waste of resources because "staff may have spent millions of dollars in time blocking these applications" over the years. She also said that during this time, "people's understanding of the SEC's role became unclear."