A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to heed the decisions of the courts and abandon its efforts to obstruct the regulatory approval of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In a letter addressed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler on the eve of his scheduled appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, four members of the committee asserted that a spot bitcoin ETF is virtually identical to the crypto futures ETFs that the SEC has already given its approval to. Consequently, the lawmakers argue that the SEC should approve applicants like Fidelity, BlackRock’s iShares, and Grayscale Investments, which is affiliated with CoinDesk’s parent company, Digital Currency Group.
The letter, signed by Representatives Mike Flood (R-Neb.), Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), declares that the SEC’s current stance is unsustainable going forward. They maintain that, in light of the Court of Appeals’ ruling, there is no justification for persistently denying such applications based on inconsistent and prejudiced criteria.