Former BlackRock Executive Says SEC Will Soon Approve Bitcoin ETFs

Steven Schoenfield, former director of Black rock, believes that the SEC will approve spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US within three to six months. His speeches took place during the panel ‘ETFs and the next phase of investment products’during the CCData Digital Asset Summit next Tuesday (3).

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission postponed the deadline for making a decision on ETF applications. However, it was open to comments from the industry, which could be a good sign.

Unlike other managers, the director currently heading MarketVector Indexes does not believe BlackRock has an advantage over its competitors. Despite the manager’s size, Schoenfield points out that other companies are already more familiar with Bitcoin.

Former BlackRock director believes the manager will have no advantage over its competitors

With $8.6 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world. Next comes Fidelity with $4.5 trillion. In any case, Steven Schoenfield does not believe that the company he worked for has major advantages over its competitors.

“I agree that it is very likely that everyone [ETFs] being approved.”

“I disagree with my former colleague Martin, no matter how much BlackRock tries to crush the competition, it will be a very different environment”Schoenfield continued. “There are perhaps eight or nine other companies that are heavily committed to tradable digital assets, all of which have orders [de ETFs] and some of them are much closer to the cryptocurrency ecosystem than BlackRock.”

Martin Bednall, CEO of Jacobi Asset Management, also joined the conversation and was surprised by the market’s excitement over spot Bitcoin ETFs.

“I’ve been working with ETFs for over 15 years and have never seen so much anticipation around the launch of a product.”

ETFs will be approved within three to six months, ex-BlackRock says

When asked when the SEC will approve the first Bitcoin ETF in the US, Steven Schoenfield quickly spoke up. The former BlackRock executive showed enthusiasm for the SEC’s latest stance, stating that he had shortened the deadline for his predictions.

“Two weeks ago I would have said between 9 and 12 months, but sitting here now I would say it’s closer, between 3 and 6 months.”

“Last week, the SEC did not completely reject the entire list [de aplicações]they actually asked for comments, which is a minimal but significant improvement in dialogue.”Schoenfield continued. “There’s also the Grayscale lawsuit, which the SEC lost, which means they’ll probably have to allow it [fundo] Grayscale’s GBTC is being converted into an ETF.”

The director then notes that the Grayscale fund has almost 650,000 bitcoins (R$92 billion) and that this would be great for the movement. However, he also recognized that such a conversion could lead to selling pressure, as this amount is currently ‘fixed’ in the fund.

Martin Bednall recalled that BlackRock has extensive contacts with regulators. In other words, the manager may have received a signal that the SEC would be willing to approve such products. In its history, the Wall Street giant received 575 approvals and only 1 rejection.

Another point mentioned was BlackRock’s change of position. Although its CEO, Larry Flink, has openly criticized Bitcoin in the past, his comments have recently completely changed, with the director now defending the cryptocurrency.

The executives’ conversation at the CCData Digital Asset Summit can be viewed in full below. The panel on ETFs starts at 3:47:00 in the video and lasts approximately 45 minutes.

Source: Live Coins

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