Topics

Crypto ETFs Look Unlikely to Expand Beyond Bitcoin, Ether Under Kamala Harris, Experts SayBitcoin Flat Near $60K Amid Mideast Tensions; XRP Down 10% on Regulatory Uncertainty

Crypto ETFs Look Unlikely to Expand Beyond Bitcoin, Ether Under Kamala Harris, Experts SayBitcoin Flat Near $60K Amid Mideast Tensions; XRP Down 10% on Regulatory Uncertainty

Coin Desk
Coin Desk
-October 21, 2024

    Crypto ETFs beyond bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum's ether (ETH) are unlikely to be approved under a Kamala Harris presidency, two ETF experts say.There are applications for ETFs tracking Ripple's XRP and Solana (SOL), and if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election, their approval odds could improve significantly, the analysts said.
Unmute

Bitcoin Flat Near $60K Amid Mideast Tensions; XRP Down 10% on Regulatory Uncertainty

01:53North Korea Is Infiltrating the Crypto Industry; Diddy Hires Sam Bankman-Fried’s Appeal Lawyer02:14Open Interest in XRP Jumps to Over $1B; Bitcoin Mining Profitability Fell Again in September: JPMorgan02:01Trump-Endorsed Crypto Project Confirms Plan for a Token; Bhutan Holds Over $780M in Bitcoin00:57XRP Surges as Ripple-SEC Case Ends

Several firms recently began seeking approval to create U.S. exchange-traded funds that track cryptocurrencies beyond the already-approved bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) products. Those applications will probably go nowhere if Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris wins the election in November, according to two ETF experts.

The approval of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs earlier this year was seen as a huge win for the industry after issuers fought for years to introduce such funds. One issuer, Grayscale, even sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to overcome the regulator's rejection – and won. Billions of dollars have poured into the new ETFs.

Since then, issuers have been taking stabs at the next big crypto ETF launch, with applications currently in process for a fund tracking Ripple's XRP (XRP) token and the native cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain, SOL (SOL).

"It won't happen if Harris wins, regardless of the issuer," said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Some industry experts believed that when asset management giant BlackRock joined the race to list bitcoin and ether ETFs, that significantly improved the chances the SEC would approve them – though it's unclear how big a factor BlackRock actually played.

If former President Donald Trump wins the election, however, there'd be a "decent chance" for more crypto ETFs, regardless of whether BlackRock joins Bitwise, VanEck and others that want to expand crypto ETFs beyond bitcoin and Ethereum's ether, according to Balchunas.

Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, echoes this outlook. "It seems highly unlikely that a Harris administration would approve additional spot crypto ETFs, at least not anytime soon after the election," he said.

Seeing how current President Joe Biden's administration has approached crypto, which Geraci characterized as "combative, overall," and taking into account Harris' powerful position in that administration, it is fair to assume that the status quo would continue under her leadership, according to Geraci.

Trump's odds of winning the election have surged to 62.4%, the highest in months, according to prices on the leading prediction market, Polymarket.

The former president has won support from the crypto community in recent months after taking a favorable stance toward the industry. He appeared at a prominent Bitcoin conference, endorsed a DeFi platform and visited a Bitcoin bar in New York ever since making crypto support a big part of his campaign.

Harris, on the other hand, has been much less vocal about the sector and has only recently unveiled plans to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and digital assets, which she aimed toward Black men, who her campaign noted are more likely to own crypto. However, details on how she'd support crypto are still scarce.

Edited by Nick Baker.

🎁

Refer and Earn!

Invite friends and get a chance to win monthly prize draws!

Published by
Coin Desk
Coin Desk
@COINDESK
ℹ️
Guide to truth

Read news with confidence using our guidelines, ensuring you access accurate and reliable information

See our Guidelines
Spot an Issue?
✍️
Disclaimer!

This news report is reproduced from the original source without any modifications by MATA. MATA has solely condensed the news for the purpose of brevity

Comments (0)