‘Don’t Hold Your Breath,’ Waiting for Bitcoin ETF Says SEC ‘Crypto Mom’

A commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said ‘not to hold your breath’ waiting for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the Digital Asset Investment Forum held in Washington D.C. Dec. 5.

Hester Peirce, dubbed “Crypto Mom” by the community for her dissent with the SEC’s decision to reject a Bitcoin ETF proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, said that a crypto or Bitcoin ETF is “definitely possible,” but it could be years away:

“Definitely possible could be 20 years from now or it could be tomorrow. Don’t hold your breath. The SEC took a long time to [establish] Finhub. It might take even longer to approve an exchange traded product.”

According to Pierce, she is also trying to convince her colleagues “to have a bit more of an open mind” when it comes to crypto adoption, but it might take a long time.

Regarding the possibility of Bitcoin institutionalization, Peirce said that the SEC sees a lot of institutional and retail interest and will interact with it in many ways. She further added:

“I think we need to encourage institutionalization in crypto space. That’s not what the people in the space want, but I think there are institutional folks who want to be in this space [...] And the best way that we can offer retail investors to get into this space is through a place that’s more institutionalized.”

When asked about recent SEC enforcements, “Crypto Mom” said that people have to comply with the law, but the government is obliged to figure out whether the regulation is preventing people from realizing new or innovative ideas.

“I want to make sure that the doors to innovation are open wide enough, and they’re not too constrained by regulation,” she concluded.

In a recent interview SEC Chairman Jay Clayton refrained from providing any specific time frame for a Bitcoin ETF, but instead reiterated the SEC’s stance. “I’m not going to comment on timing or anything like that, but we’ve been clear on some of the issues that are of concern to us,” he told CNBC.