Bitcoin ETF approval is more likely in 2022: Crypto fund manager

Bitcoin ETF hopefuls possible have somewhat longer to attend.

The primary exchange-traded fund based mostly on the flagship cryptocurrency could not see approval for one more two years regardless of what many noticed as a positive altering of the guard on the Securities and Change Fee, Osprey Funds founder and CEO Greg King instructed CNBC on Monday.

New SEC Chair Gary Gensler could have taught a category on crypto at MIT, however that does not imply a bitcoin-based fund will instantly obtain approval, King instructed CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”

“Persons are kind of studying into it [like] that signifies that there’s going to be inexperienced lights for a bitcoin ETF. We’re not so positive that is the case,” mentioned King, who plans to transform Osprey’s Bitcoin Belief (OBTC) to an ETF when the time is correct.

“Personally, I feel if one thing occurs, it is extra possible in 2022. It is simply actually getting going. These items take time,” King mentioned.

The actual fact stays that the SEC’s primary issues round bitcoin — the potential for fraud, manipulation and custody points — have not gone away, Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein mentioned in the identical “ETF Edge” interview.

“The business continues to mature with every passing day, however clearly, despite the fact that we’re maturing, we’re nonetheless not fairly there but,” mentioned Sonnenshein, whose agency has been working with the SEC on addressing its issues since 2016.

With regulators so engaged within the course of, it seems to solely be a matter of time earlier than a bitcoin ETF sees the sunshine of day, Sonnenshein mentioned.

He added that he’s “100% dedicated” to changing his agency’s fashionable Grayscale Bitcoin Belief (GBTC) to an ETF “when the regulatory atmosphere is able to have it.”

“The establishments that now make investments with us wouldn’t have considered this two, three years in the past when regulatory uncertainty could have been a hurdle for them. These days, that is not the type of pushback that we get,” Sonnenshein mentioned. “And so, I feel as time goes on, you will see a maturation … that can give regulators elevated consolation with the asset class.”

Disclosure: King and Osprey Funds personal bitcoin. Grayscale Investments owns bitcoin.