SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Reiterates Support for Futures-Based Bitcoin ETF

Seven members of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell asking about the central bank's work on cryptocurrency regulation.

The letter included four issues concerning the Federal Reserve's treatment of cryptocurrency custody at the Commonwealth Bank and its role in establishing an international standard for central bank digital currencies. It also asked further about the Fed's coordination with other financial regulators and the release date of a discussion paper on a CBDC.

Earlier in a Senate Banking Committee hearing in July, Powell said: “If you have a digital dollar, you don’t need a stablecoin, you don’t need a cryptocurrency.”

Earlier today, Senator Cynthia Lummis said that stablecoins must be 100% cash-backed and must be regularly audited. Lummis also laid out key principles of a digital dollar, including legitimate need, financial inclusion, programmability, avoidance of systemic risk, and privacy.

Lummis is not the first lawmaker to voice concerns about stablecoins, with Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) earlier this year saying that stablecoins could meet the definition of a security, making them subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Supervision. The U.S. Treasury Department’s report on stablecoins is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler reiterated on Wednesday that he supports a futures-based bitcoin ETF that would invest in futures contracts rather than the cryptocurrency itself.

Gensler specifically cited bitcoin ETFs that invest in futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. He said the act provided important investor protections and "I look forward to staff reviewing such documents."

He also expressed a similar view in a speech in August, when he expressed his preference for a bitcoin futures ETF based on CME transactions, triggering a wave of bitcoin futures ETF applications. None have yet been approved by the SEC, but industry watchers expect the SEC to make a decision on such ETFs as early as October.

The SEC is reviewing nearly two dozen ETF applications for bitcoin, bitcoin futures, ethereum, and ethereum futures products.

This article is from Bitpush.News, reproduced with authorization.

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Author: Amy Liu

This article is from Bitpush.News, reproduced with authorization.