A former high-ranking official of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says that a possible future event could result in the likely approval of a spot-based Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
John Reed Stark, who founded the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement and spent 11 years as its chief, says that crypto has become a bi-partisan political issue in the United States.
Stark believes that Republicans, in general, are more supportive of crypto than Democrats.
He says that a spot-based Bitcoin ETF would likely get approved by the SEC if a Republican is elected president in November 2024.
“Given the partisan divide that has evolved regarding crypto, especially at the SEC, my take is that should a Republican get elected US President in 2024, the slate of Republicans appointed to the SEC will likely:
1) Decrease significantly the SEC’s crypto-enforcement efforts, probably filing mostly fraud cases, shifting efforts away from charging pure registration violations (such as the failure of a crypto-trading platform to register as an exchange, broker-dealer and clearing firm); and
2) Become far more receptive to approving a Bitcoin spot ETF and far more likely to take other significant crypto-friendly regulatory actions.”
Stark says that the SEC membership will be split in half between the two parties if a Republican wins the presidential race. He also says that pro-crypto SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce could become acting SEC Chair.
“When any President is elected, the current SEC Chair typically resigns and the new SEC Chair position is rarely confirmed and filled until at least three-four months after Inauguration Day.
Hence, should a Republican get elected president, [SEC] Chair [Gary] Gensler would likely resign and the senior Republican appointed SEC Commissioner (in this case famed ‘crypto-mom’ Hester Peirce) would possibly become acting Chair.”
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