The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw informed senators on Thursday that she was unable to approve bitcoin exchange-traded products earlier this year due to widespread fraud in the cryptocurrency markets.
During a Senate Banking Committee nomination hearing, Crenshaw and other candidates for Senate confirmation presented their records for scrutiny. Only a small amount of attention was paid to crypto concerns, even when it came to grilling Crenshaw for her next SEC term.
After losing a legal battle with Grayscale in January, the SEC shifted its stance on bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Commissioner Crenshaw maintains opposition, arguing they are exchange-traded products (ETPs), not ETFs, subject to distinct regulations.
According to the commissioner, the agency’s approval of the Bitcoin (BTC) products will “put us on a wayward path that could further sacrifice investor protection.”
She reaffirmed on Thursday that she felt compelled to oppose it “given the significant fraud in the underlying spot markets globally, given the opacity,” while considering whether it was in the public interest.
In January, Crenshaw worried these products would flood the market, affecting Americans’ retirement savings due to fraud in bitcoin spot markets. Her organization is currently examining comparable trading tools for Ethereum’s ether (ETH).
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