SEC rejects Winklevoss’s Bitcoin ETF bid

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that it would not approve what would have been the first-ever exchange-traded fund (ETF) to track Bitcoin.

The agency’s announcement reaffirms a previous decision it made in 2017 to reject the Bitcoin-tracking ETF from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

In a statement, the agency called the Winklevoss’s arguments that Bitcoin is uniquely resistant to market manipulation “unpersuasive,” but left the door open for potential cryptocurrency ETF’s in the future.

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The SEC said that it believes that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets are still in their “early stages of development” and “over time, regulated bitcoin-related markets may continue to grow and develop.”

The agency stressed that its assessment was not about the digital currency but that its decision was made out of concern to prevent fraud and protect investors.

Many in the Bitcoin community have long seen an ETF as an important step in broadening the currency’s reach to investors who don’t know how to or want to take the steps to directly purchase Bitcoin.

The SEC has ramped up its regulation of cryptocurrencies since they caught the public’s attention at the end of 2017 when Bitcoin and other digital currencies exploded in value. 

The Winklevoss twins have risen to prominence in the cryptocurrency community with their cryptocurrency platform Gemini, which they founded after their settlement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over claims that he stole the idea for Facebook from them.