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SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said that the ethereum ETF approval process will not be the same as that of bitcoin, as the SEC has learned several lessons from the bitcoin ETF saga.
In an interview today with Zack Guzman, Peirce said it shouldn't take a court to persuade the SEC to eventually approve cryptocurrency-backed ETFs. Peirce mentioned that regulators will change their approval process for eth ETF applicants and will conduct regular consumer and market considerations, as they do with all ETF products.
“We shouldn't need a court to tell us that our approach is arbitrary and capricious in order to get it right.”
– Hester PeirceSEC Commissioner
The Commissioner also expressed frustration over the long delays in approvals for bitcoin ETFs, as she always thought these products qualified for approval a long time ago.
Peirce also shed light on the hack of the SEC's X account, which previously posted the fake approval post, leading to brief market manipulation. She believes that the hack might not have happened if the SEC had not drawn so much attention around these approvals and that the agency could have avoided this by using its usual approach to ETF applications.
The lack of further anticipation will be a key consideration in ethereum ETF approvals, as the SEC should not generate excitement around a regulatory decision.
Peirce further emphasized that approving spot bitcoin ETFs does not necessarily mean that the SEC will change the way it regulates cryptocurrencies. He also mentioned that the agency is not dedicated to policing cryptocurrencies, but will also focus on regulating cryptocurrency-based securities products that are traded on stock exchanges, just as it does with the gold market.
