Ladies and Gentlemen, this is HODL FM – the only publication that doesn’t show off its coolness by taking pills in Ibiza.

hodl-post-image

Our Agenda for Today: 

  • Democrat Senators compelling SEC to never approve altcoin ETFs;
  • They even wrote Gary Gensler a letter;
  • It said no one should compel the commission into approving ‘thinly traded’ ETFs of small cryptocurrencies;
  • Many believe this is political pressure to not launch the much-awaited Ethereum ETF;
  • Chances of an Ethereum ETF in May 2024 have dropped by half;
  • There is more…

Gary Gensler is that guy Alexander Mahone who is easily hated in Prison Break 2 for being controlled by the system. Democrats regard him as ‘the honoroble Gensler’ when requesting favors to do with cracking down on cryptocurrencies. Redditors on the r/Bitcoin subreddit believe he is controlled by the 1%, but is he? 

Here is an account of two senators mounting pressure on the guy to stop approving more exchanged-traded funds. According to the two, Senator Jack Reed and Laphonza Butler, ‘the commission is under no obligation to approve the products”.

hodl-post-image

In the March 11 letter addressed to the SEC chairman, retail investors will easily fall prey to manipulation if the commission continues to approve more exchange-traded products. As per the senators, even though “Bitcoin has displayed weaknesses”_ it has a far more ‘established and scrutinized” market than other cryptocurrencies.  Which all sounds like saying John Doe is a mashed potato without calling him a mashed potato.

And the letter continues to say, “However vulnerable Bitcoin may be to fraud and manipulation, markets for other cryptocurrencies are far more exposed to misconduct” and given such significant risk, approval of the Bitcoin ETF must not set a precedent for the approval of other cryptos ETFs. 

Reactions to SEC Pressure on Altcoin ETFs

Reed and Butler also urged the Chairman to put in place measures for further regulatory scrutiny on ETF providers and advisors of the already approved Bitcoin ETF products. 

Paradigm’s government relations lead Alexander Grieve suggested on X that spot Bitcoin ETF’s success in the first four weeks was ‘clearly ruffling feathers on the hill”

Bloomberg’s Asset Management Analyst James Seyffart wasn’t persuaded the two senators could craft the sort of analysis contained in the letter and hinted that someone must probably have sent it to Reed and Butler. 

Crypto industry insiders said the letter pointed to mounting political pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission in the wake of an imminent approval of the Ethereum ETF, whose likelihood of approval has continued to diminish since January. 

Eric Balchunas, the Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst predicted a 70% chance of an ETH ETF by May but as per a recent X post on March 11, the chances have gone down to 35%.

More Info:

According to Balchunas, we are only 73 days to the filing’s deadline and the commission has not yet contacted issuers. 

Disclaimer: All materials on this site are for informational purposes only. None of the material should be interpreted as investment advice. Please note that despite the nature of much of the material created and hosted on this website, HODL FM is not a financial reference resource and the opinions of authors and other contributors are their own and should not be taken as financial advice. If you require advice of this sort, HODL FM strongly recommends contacting a qualified industry professional.