An important factor which could play a deciding role in the final March 11 approval of the Winklevoss twins’ Bitcoin ETF COIN is the suggestions and insights of outside counsel, independent consultants and the public.
On Feb. 14, all of the organizations and officials related to the approval of the Winklevoss twins’ Bitcoin ETF participated in a roundtable discussion about the future of the ETF, if it is approved. The discussion focused on how the market would react, potential issues that may arise and benefits of the public for having a Bitcoin ETF readily available.
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, outside advisors in KCG Holdings and Susquehanna International were brought in by the Securities Exchange Commission during the February 14 to offer unbiased insight into the launch of the COIN ETF. This is an important aspect of the approval process as the SEC takes the insights of these outside counsel and consultants to decide whether the COIN ETF is ready to be approved or not.
In addition to the insights of KCG Holdings and Susquehanna International consultants, the SEC also takes public comments with a serious note, evaluating them and building a consensus amongst public members that have contributed to the Bitcoin ETF commenting process.
Thoughts of the public so far
Around 72 percent of the public is in favor of the Bitcoin ETF approval so far. The other 28 percent have cited some of the issues the Bitcoin network is dealing with, but in consideration of the state of the Bitcoin network as of current, the problems mentioned by ETF opposers aren’t necessarily urgent issues which the SEC should consider for the ETF approval.
One of the issues that were frequently brought up by the ETF opposers were the fear of hard fork. Some of the public comments included concerns over the execution of a potential hard fork and the occurrence of a split chain. A split in the chain could lead to the creation of another fork of bitcoin and essentially create two currencies, the 28 percent of the public stated that a Bitcoin ETF isn’t ready to be introduced to the public.
As of now, a hard fork seems very far from being executed. For a hard fork to be executed, miners must garner 51 percent of the network’s hash power to make the decision. However, Bitcoin Unlimited isn’t near that threshold. Even if Bitcoin Unlimited is successfully executed and it leads to the creation of another Bitcoin, it won’t be a major issue as everyone within the network will be attributed to an equivalent balance of Bitcoin Unlimited.
One of the many supporting comments was written by Philip C. Chronakis, Attorney, Adjunct Professor of Law, who mentioned that the approval of the Bitcoin ETF will place the SEC in a unique position to oversee the development of Bitcoin. It will also place the US at the forefront of Bitcoin development.
Chronakis stated:
“Denial of the proposed rule will not stop Bitcoins progress, but approval of the proposed rule and the underlying COIN ETF, will put the SEC in the ideal position to oversee Bitcoins development as an investment asset – and provide fair, broad-based investment opportunities for not only the connected (or technologically savvy) few, but to all Americans who deserve the same chance to benefit from this technological breakthrough and financial opportunity.”
This is a situation which the SEC is carefully considering. The SEC doesn’t benefit from the approval of the Bitcoin ETF as the SEC isn’t incentivized for the performance of the ETF. However, the government will most likely want the Bitcoin ETF to be approved in order to maintain a more regulated Bitcoin market which it can oversee.