SEC Advised to Reject Bitcoin ETF by Better Markets’ CEO

Dennis Kelleher, the CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit organization, has come out to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a strong message. He advises the regulatory body against greenlighting a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). On January 5, in a letter to SEC secretary Vanessa Countryman, Kelleher expressed his concerns about the potential dangers of approving such a product.

Kelleher’s primary worry revolves around the significant risks he believes investors would face with the introduction of a spot Bitcoin ETF. He rarely issues supplemental comment letters, but he felt compelled to do so in this case. “We submit this supplemental comment letter (which Better Markets very rarely does) because it would be a grave if not historic mistake almost certainly leading to a massive investor harm if the SEC approves the pending rule change,” Kelleher stated.

He pointed out that the crypto market is often associated with fraud and manipulation, and approving a spot Bitcoin ETF would only increase investors’ exposure to these risks. Kelleher’s stance is that such an approval could be misconstrued as an endorsement by the U.S. government of the crypto industry’s products.

This isn’t the first time Kelleher has expressed skepticism about the crypto industry. In May 2023, during an interview, he referred to the industry as “worse than a fantasy; it’s a fraud on the public.”