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SEC Chairman addresses BTC price manipulation as a factor in Bitcoin ETF and regulatory delay

source-logo  zycrypto.com 10 September 2019 09:57, UTC

The Economic Club of New York panel recently hosted the Chairman of the United States Security Exchange Commission Jay Clayton who was made to speak on the state of Cryptocurrency market manipulation and its effects on regulations for Cryptocurrency assets.

The event which took place on the 9th of September in New York held multiple speakers on the panel, one of which highlighted the SEC’s questions as regards to Bitcoin custody, security and price manipulation.

Noting that the SEC is dissuaded by the increased rate of a Bitcoin price manipulation, he proposed the much-anticipated question on whether the cryptocurrency community is any closer to getting a Bitcoin ETF approval anytime soon, to which Clayton explained;

“There is a product that is the Cryptocurrency asset, then there’s the trading and holding of that asset. We’ve talked about whether some of these assets are securities and clearly we don’t see Bitcoin as a security. But when you put it into a product and make it a security, then we have to worry about whether or not it trades or is held appropriately”.

Speaking on the issue of Custody, Clayton pointed at the fact that efforts are being made towards improvement. Note that in May, The SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority released a joint statement addressing the factors that are considered when approving custody for digital assets.

“In the trading area, it troubles me that people look on these venues and think it has got the same level of protection that you’d have on an equity market in the US NASDAQ and MYSZ. Nothing could be further from the truth, we have lengthy rulebooks, all sorts of protections to make sure that prices are not manipulated in the equity markets, I don’t see those in the Crypto asset markets.”

The SEC’s concerns on custody, price manipulation and regulations of Cryptocurrency seem to be a major concern as Clayton also spoke to CNBC on the same issues and how its effects are causing a regulatory drawback. When asked if Bitcoin ETF’s are forthcoming, Clayton said: “the short answer is yes, but there’s work left to be done”.

zycrypto.com