Yesterday, January 23, 2019, Cboe exchange withdrew the Bitcoin-ETF application backed by VanEck and SolidX. The approval of this application was a great hope for the crypto-community, the growth of the main cryptocurrency was often associated with this event, many people reckoned on it.
The application was filed in July last year. The American regulator extended its consideration several times, but according to the law, the deadline should have come on February 27, 2019.
The reasons for this decision were not indicated in the SEC notification, however, in an interview with Coindesk, a representative of VanEck said that the application “has been temporarily withdrawn” and that they are actively cooperating with regulators on the issue of launching Bitcoin ETF. Most likely, this was due to the temporary suspension of the US government (the so-called shutdown caused by the President Trump’s offering to allocate funds for building the Mexico–United States barrier).
We believe that the exchange had compelling reasons for withdrawing the application. Because of the shutdown, the SEC does not function as usual, and the deadline for making a decision on the application filed in the summer was meant to end in February. The new application procedure would also take a long period of time, and in this case, we believe the deadline will be simply paused (suspended).
The market reacted calmly to this event. No panic happened. What to expect now? Delaying of BAKKT? Postponement of Constantinople fork? In any case, the native is postponed.
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