Even Gary Gensler voted to approve the spot Bitcoin ETFs.
More than a decade after the first application was filed, the crypto industry finally has spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds in the United States. On Jan. 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Bitcoin ETF applications from ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Valkyrie, BlackRock, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex and Franklin Templeton. The SEC’s decision was a historic milestone for crypto, but the road was not smooth. It all started in 2013, when Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss filed the first application for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States.
The decision by the SEC to approve a spot cryptocurrency ETF in the U.S. for the first time raised questions about the intentions of Gary Gensler, the commission’s chair. Since taking office, Gensler has often spoken about the risks of crypto investments, connecting digital assets to fraud and scams. However, Gensler was one of three commissioners who voted to approve the offerings. The 3-2 vote tally suggests the SEC chair may have been the deciding vote. Some community members suggested the SEC chair “voted with Wall Street,” as the expansion of crypto products is likely to bring in investor funds. Others speculated that “the writing was already on the wall” for the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, given that the commission had been mandated by a federal court to review Grayscale’s offering.
Not everyone is happy with the SEC’s decision. In her statement, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw — one of two commissioners to vote against the approval — wrote that the agency’s move to greenlight the Bitcoin-based investment vehicles was “unsound and ahistorical.” Better Markets, a nonprofit economic organization, also didn’t mince words in its criticism of the ETF decision, describing the asset as inherently worthless and without purpose. Gold advocate and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff added his voice to the mix, saying that the approvals were nothing more than a series of new ways for speculators to gamble on Bitcoin.
