'Crypto Mom' criticizes SEC for “smothering ETFs with personalized attention,” reiterates support for the Winklevoss twins’ bitcoin ETF

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce thinks her agency is being overly cautious on its considering of a cryptocurrency ETF, urging for new ETF rules that can accelerate the approval process, the Financial Times writes. 

At a conference in New York last month, the SEC commissioner, who has been referred to as “Crypto Mom," said that the SEC was “still smothering ETFs with personalized attention as if they were infants.” Currently, asset managers hoping to open a new EFT usually apply under the purview of the 1940 Investment Company Act, which is said to be more stringent in approving cryptocurrency funds.

The commissioner also voiced her support for the Winklevoss twins’ ETF proposal again, whose rejection by the SEC last July prompted a written dissent from Peirce.  

To date, the SEC has yet to approve any cryptocurrency ETF, despite the tenuous effort by asset management firms such as Bitwise and VanEck. Last week, Bitwise submitted a white paper to the SEC, arguing that the cryptocurrency market is much more efficient and regulated than how it is perceived by the general public. This statement is in direct response to the SEC’s concerns over fraud and price manipulation in the cryptocurrency market, which the regulator cited as one of the major reasons why all bitcoin ETF proposals had been delayed or rejected.