With the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declining the Winklevoss ETF and the decision on the CBOE and VanEck-Solid ETF product waiting for approval, the conversations surrounding the feasibility of crypto derivatives have started to fade away. Despite this, the CEO of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes believes that the SEC will one day approve one product because of the increasing retail demand.
Hayes talked on CNBC Africa’s Crypto Trader segment where he made comments about BitMEX and ETF products.
CNBC
The host of the CNBC show Ran NeuNer, questioned Hayes on how he feels that his exchange is performing. The BitMEX CEO replied by saying that the exchange is doing really well and that they are seeing volumes four to five times that of the whole of last year. The numbers almost look too good to be true given other exchanges have been facing declining volumes due the continuous bearish movement in the market.
BitMEX
BitMEX is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world and its insanely high numbers are perhaps due to its leverage trading facility. Providing up to 100x leverage to traders of the XBT (BTC) contract on the platform, BitMEX is one of the most popular exchanges in the crypto world.
Cryptocurrency ETFs
NeuNer went on to question Hayes regarding his views on crypto ETFs saying that eventually the SEC will have to approve one of the ETFs, especially if the retail markets go on to pose a higher demand for these products.
In February next year, the two other ETFs will be seeking the SEC to give them approval. Hayes commented saying
“There’s a 50/50 chance that we see some decision in Q3.”
Hayes compared Bitcoin ETF with Gold ETF by saying that the industry is unregulated.
“How could regulators not allow Bitcoin ETF?”
He also noted out that if these products get approved it will help to drive retail adoption of digital currencies by making it simpler for fiat to flow into the digital coin system which would lead to the removal of ‘barriers and complexities’ such as managing a Bitcoin wallet and multiple other crypto exchange accounts.
